It's Hard To Survive
by D-ZombieDragon
Summary: The Jimmy Gibbs Jr.breaks down.After a failed attempt at getting it fixed,the group moves on towards the Bridge where the Passing takes place.That's where their lives were to change forever/Bill doesn't die,maybe ZombieEllis,Firstfanfiction no flames ples
1. Chapter 1

**Please note that this is my first fanfiction, so no flames please. Hope you enjoy!**

_**It's Hard to Survive**_

_**Chapter 1**_

The group of four, all battered and bleeding, trudged on towards their destination: The Bridge. Leading the group was Coach, and then came Rochelle, then Nick, and lastly, trailing at the back and the most injured of all, was Ellis.

Ellis limped behind, struggling to keep up with his teammates. The group was down to only one health-kit, which was the reason why Ellis hadn't had much medical help. The last horde had hidden five special infected, which, unfortunately, all went after Ellis!

_(Flashback)_

_The group had to stop driving, as their car (The Jimmy Gibbs Jr.) had been making sputtering noises for the last ten minutes, until, eventually, the car stopped working altogether. They all got out and Ellis opened the hood to what was wrong. Nick waited impatiently._

"_Well? What's the problem, Overalls?"_

_Ellis' head eventually came into view, his face looking grim._

"_The problem's a dead battery," he answered._

"_Well, that's just great!" Nick yelled, folding his arms irritably._

"_Can't you fix it, sweetie?" Rochelle asked._

"_Sorry Ro, but without another battery, this baby ain't driving no more."_

"_Goddamn you, Jimmy Gibbs Jr.!" Nick yelled._

_Ellis looked over at Coach. The oldest member of the group had a thinking look on his face._

"_Well…we probably can take a car battery form one of the ol' cars we see in the streets. The only problem is that most of them have car alarms…"_

"_That's alright. We can just prepare ourselves for them hordes. We always manage," Ellis replied, anxious to get on the move again._

_Having no other options, the group went ahead with Coach and Ellis' plan to find an abandoned car with a working battery. That shouldn't be too hard to do, as they see many cars in the streets these days._

_**Ten minutes later…**_

_The group had found a car that seemed suitable enough to have a battery that would fit their stock car. Ellis went up to the car and opened the hood to shoot the alarm. But not fast enough. The alarm sounded, and it took a full five minutes of shooting to finally shut the damn thing up. But five minutes were enough for all the zombies in the area to hear their dinner bell._

"_Here they come, y'all!" Ellis yelled, quickly reloading his Desert Rifle._

_As soon as those words were out of his mouth, the horde appeared and started attacking without mercy. The others had barely started attacking, when they all heard Ellis' unmistakable cry of, "JOCKEY'S GOT ME!"_

_The others ran towards him and saw that the Jockey was leading Ellis towards a crying Witch that they had overlooked. Even worse, the Witch had already started growling and standing up._

"_THIS THING'S RIDING ME! GUYS, HELP ME!" Ellis continued to scream, unaware that he was getting closer and closer to the Witch._

"_Ellis!" the other three yelled in unison, aiming their guns and shooting at that stupid Jockey. The Jockey fell, but also pulling Ellis down with it! Ellis fell right on top of the screaming Witch!_

"_OH, SHIIIIIIIIIIT!" Ellis screamed, trying his best to defend himself with his pistols while incapacitated. The Witch continued to slash him, leaving new wounds on Ellis' body. Nick pulled out a Molotov._

"_Fire coming!" he yelled, throwing it towards the Witch without thinking about Ellis._

"_OW! WHAT THE FUCK, NICK! I'M ALREADY IN ENOUGH PAIN! " Ellis screamed, trying to roll away from the flames._

_Coach and Rochelle ran to help him up while the Witch ran after her new target: Nick. As he tried to get away, the burning Witch suddenly slashed him hard and incapacitated him. Before Nick could get seriously injured, Ellis suddenly appeared behind the Witch and cr0wned her. Ellis helped Nick up, but before Nick could thank him, he was suddenly on the ground again. He looked up, and saw that Ellis had shoved him out of the way to take the full blow of a Charger, which had chosen at that time to appear._

"_Overalls!" Nick yelled, getting up and running after the Charger. The Charger had now crashed into a wall and had started pummeling Ellis into the ground like a rag doll._

"_CHARGER'S GOT ME! OW! IT'S POUNDING ME TO DEATH!" Ellis screamed as the Charger continued its abuse._

_Nick found Coach and Rochelle and together, they all started to shoot the Charger. The Charger let go of Ellis and dropped to the ground, dead._

_As soon as the others ran over to help Ellis, a long, wet tongue wrapped around his torso and pulled him away from the others._

"_OH, SHIIIIIIT! SMOKER'S GOT ME!" Ellis choked out, trying unsuccessfully to get out of the Smoker's grasp._

_The Smoker was much closer than the others thought, because the next minute, Ellis was being clawed and choked by the Smoker at the same time._

"_I'M DOWN!" Ellis yelled, as he became incapacitated by the Smoker._

_Nick took out his pistol and shot at the Smoker, causing the tongue to slacken. Nick then finished it off and ran over to help Ellis. But in the thick smoke left behind by the Smoker, none of the group members noticed the Hunter that was taking advantage of the situation. Just before Nick could find Ellis, the Hunter jumped on Ellis._

"_AH! SHIIIIT! NICK, COACH, ROCHELLE, ANYONE! THERE'S A FREAKING HUNTER ON ME! HELP ME!" Ellis screamed._

_Nick heard Ellis' scream and was more determined than ever to find him._

"_Hunter's got Ellis! Hunter on Ellis!" Nick yelled, trying to get Coach and Rochelle's attention, before running further into the smoke to find Ellis._

_Eventually, the smoke cleared and Nick managed to find Ellis and the Hunter. He pulled out his pistol and shot the Hunter in the head. It fell off Ellis and onto the ground, dead. Nick ran over to Ellis, panicking when he saw that Ellis wasn't moving._

"_Ellis? Kid? Overalls?" he whispered, getting on his knees and shaking Ellis, trying to wake him up._

_When Ellis didn't respond, Nick's panic started to rise even higher. He couldn't lose Ellis now. He couldn't. Ellis was like a younger brother to him. Even though he barely ever showed it, the whole group, including Ellis, knew this. But Nick didn't care. He cared about Ellis like his brother, no matter what others thought._

_Nick was jolted out of his thoughts when he heard coughing coming from the mechanic. He looked down and saw Ellis looking up at him. Nick grimaced._

"_H-How do you feel, kid?" he asked._

"_Like shit," Ellis answered, with a weak smile on his face._

_Nick couldn't believe that the kid could still fucking smile like that, despite him being in so much pain. He pushed that thought away for a moment and proceeded to help Ellis up._

"_If I get you up, you promise not to shoot me anymore?" Nick asked, smirking at Ellis._

_Ellis managed to laugh weakly at Nick's joke. But as soon as Nick let him go, Ellis buckled. Nick just managed to catch him._

"_Nick, 'm fine! I just need a couple of them health-kits and I'll be good as new," Ellis tried to reassure Nick._

_Before Nick could argue, Coach and Rochelle ran over to them to see if Ellis was alright. When they saw the bad shape Ellis was in, Rochelle ripped off her health-kit from her back and set it on the ground._

"_Nick, I'll need you to hold him steady," Rochelle told him, getting the bandages and gauze ready._

_Nick's grip on Ellis tightened, while Rochelle started the healing process. Ellis looked like he was in excruciating pain, but he was keeping a brave face. Rochelle finished her health kit._

"_My health kit isn't enough," she said with surprise. "Coach, can I have yours?"_

_Coach handed her his health kit. Rochelle continued her work, only to find out that Coach's health-kit wasn't enough either._

"_Nick, can I have yours?" Rochelle asked him worriedly._

_Nick handed her his health-kit, hands shaking. He was really worried about Ellis, as the others were. If this health kit wasn't enough, then they'll have to go on and save the last health kit. It didn't sound right, but if Ellis, or someone else, for that matter, got attacked again, and there were no health-kits, they would be in serious trouble._

"_This still isn't enough. What do we do now?" Rochelle asked._

"_We'll have to go on," Nick replied. "We can't use the last health-kit until we get to the next safe-room. If we do, then we'll have no more health-kits, and what if we got attacked again?"_

_Coach and Rochelle stared at each other. Coach sighed._

"_Nick's right. We can't risk it."_

"_I guess you're right," Rochelle sighed sadly._

_Even though the others wanted to help Ellis to the next safe-room, he insisted that he was fine and can walk on his own. He took a few steps forward to prove his point._

"_See? 'M fine," he insisted. "Now, let's get to that bridge."_

_(End Flashback)_

So that's where they are now. They trudged on and on. It was quiet. Too quiet.

"Hey, Overalls, are you alright?" Nick asked.

When he received no reply, he stopped and turned around. Ellis was on his hands and knees, breathing heavily.

"Ellis!" Nick yelled, running over to him.

His yell got the attention of Coach and Rochelle, who immediately turned around and ran over to him and Ellis. Nick already had helped Ellis to his feet and was holding him around the shoulders.

"Nick, what's wrong with the youn'un?" Coach asked.

"I don't know," Nick replied. "He just collapsed."

"Probably from the pain," Rochelle added.

"Would y'all stop worrying 'bout me," Ellis said, a bit annoyed. "I was just catchin' my breath."

"Don't talk shit," Nick argued, turning his head to face him. "You collapsed because you are in pain. And don't give me that look. It's true."

Before Ellis could argue, he felt what felt like the ground shaking.

"Hey, is it me, or is the ground shakin'?" he asked the others.

The others felt it too, and Nick immediately gave Ellis pain pills.

"You'll need these," Nick told him.

"Run!" Coach yelled.

They all ran ahead. They eventually came to a dead end.

"Oh, shit! We must have taken a wrong turn somewhere!" Nick yelled.

Ellis took out his pain pills and took the whole lot. He then heard a loud roar and saw the big zombie known as the Tank was coming closer and closer towards them.

"Holy shit…"

**So what did you think? R&R Please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for all my lovely reviews!I didn't expect to get such nice reviews!Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

_**It's Hard to Survive**_

_**Chapter 2**_

"_Holy shit…"_

As soon as these words were out of Ellis' mouth, the Tank charged-_after him!_

"Light that mother up!" Ellis yelled, running as fast as his legs could carry him. "Why is it always me?"

"Man up! We gotta Tank!" Nick yelled.

Ellis started to run backwards so that he was able to shoot the Tank and run at the same time. But that's easier said than done. He ended up shooting Nick accidentally a few times.

"Unless you want to be picking your teeth up off the floor, stop shooting me!" Nick yelled at Ellis angrily.

"Sorry 'bout that, Nick!" Ellis replied.

The Tank took an advantage of Nick's distraction and threw a slab of concrete towards him. Before Nick could react, Ellis shoved him out of the way and took the full blow. The Tank went straight for him.

"Shit! Ellis!" Nick yelled.

The Tank picked Ellis up and threw him into a nearby swamp. But before anyone could get to him, the Mud People in the swamp grabbed Ellis and dragged him underwater.

"ELLIS!" Nick, Coach and Rochelle screamed at the same time.

Nick suddenly had a plan. He turned to Coach and Rochelle.

"You two stay here and distract that damn thing!" he yelled, pointing at the Tank. "I'll go and save Ellis!"

Without waiting for a reply, Nick turned around and dived into the swamp.

Ellis wasn't doing well against the Mud People. His lungs were on fire, begging for oxygen. He fought to get out of the Mud People's grasp, but to no avail. As he began to lose consciousness, he caught a flash of white out of the corner of his eye.

"Nick…" he murmured, and his world went black.

Nick spotted Ellis squirming around in the water, obviously trying to escape the Mud People's grasp. He saw the mechanic's mouth move, but he couldn't hear what was being said. But when Ellis stopped moving, and his eyes closed, Nick felt both anger and worry building up in his chest. He quickly swam over to the Mud People holding onto Ellis and punched them out of the way. Grabbing Ellis, Nick swam towards the surface, lungs begging for air.

Nick broke the surface, taking big gulps of air as he swam towards land, Ellis gripped under his arm. As soon as Nick reached land, he put Ellis on the shore and climbed out of the water next to him. He pressed his ear onto Ellis' chest, but heard no heartbeat.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Nick murmured. He proceeded in doing CPR. "Goddammit!"

As Nick continued with his work, he heard footsteps coming towards him. _Coach and Rochelle…_

"Nick!" they yelled, running towards him.

Nick was suddenly hit with a thought.

"Hey Coach. Do you still have the defib unit?" he asked.

"I do, Nick," Coach replied, but he didn't get it out to give to Nick. "But we can't use it on him, Nick. He's soaking wet. It would fry him."

All the color drained from Nick's face, and he immediately continued to do CPR on Ellis.

"I have not…come this far…for you…to die now!" Nick yelled. "Breath, Ellis! Goddamnit, breath!"

That was all the encouragement Ellis needed. He rolled onto his side and coughed up all the swamp water. When he was done he turned to Nick.

"Thank you, Nick…" he murmured, before falling unconscious again.

Nick felt relief spread throughout his body. _Ellis was alive._ Nick couldn't feel more relieved than he did now. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"C'mon, Nick," Coach said. "We gotta get to that bridge. Now do you wanna carry him, or shall I do it?"

"I'll do it, Coach," Nick replied.

Nick stood up and picked up Ellis, shouldering him. That would be the easiest way to carry him. Then they all continued to proceed towards the bridge.

Meanwhile, at the bridge, another group of four survivors were waiting. The leader of this group was Bill. The others were Zoey, Francis and Louis. They were all waiting for Louis' leg to get better. It had gotten damaged when a Witch clawed at his leg from inside a boat that was full of Witches. He managed to get away before any more serious damage was done to him.

"Hey, Francis," Louis whispered. "I think there are other survivors down there."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" Francis replied. "I think we all heard the gunshots, unless zombies now know how to shoot guns."

He chuckled at his own joke. Louis rolled his eyes.

"Well, could you tell Bill for me?" he asked. "He asked us to tell him and I can't do it with my leg all fucked up."

Francis didn't reply, but he got up and made his way to where Bill and Zoey were.

"Hey, old man," he said.

Bill decided to teach Francis some respect. But inside, he knew that Francis was joking.

"Speak up, Francis. Your voice got all muffled from your head being so far up your ass!"

He and Zoey chuckled. Francis rolled his eyes.

"You know, I can still get you back for that stuff you wiped on my vest. Damnit, Bill! It still stinks!"

This only caused Bill and Zoey to laugh louder. Francis grunted impatiently.

"Well, anyway," he raised his voice above the continuous laughing. "The reason I'm here is because we heard some other survivors heading this way."

Bill and Zoey stopped laughing and looked at each other. Bill sighed.

"I know what you're going to say. You want us to help them, don't you?" he asked Zoey.

"I don't know anymore, Bill. But maybe…"

"Look," Bill interrupted. "I'll see what happens when they get here. But remember what I always say Zoey: _We look after our own…"_

**I'm really torturing Ellis,aren't I? For some reason,I like torturing my favorite characters!**** Hope you enjoyed that chapter! R&R please!  
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**Until next time  
>D-ZombieDragon<br>**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's Chapter 3! Hope you love it!**

_**It's Hard to Survive**_

_**Chapter 3**_

"_We look after our own…"_

Nick, Coach and Rochelle had decided to use their last health-kit on Ellis. With all that he's been through, the others were surprised at how tough he was. He was so close to death, and yet, he would still risk his life for them. But there was no point in telling to him to stop. He would just keep doing it.

"What are we going to do with you, Overalls?" Nick whispered, chuckling slightly.

The group had finally made it to the bridge-only to find it lifted.

"Is this some kind of sick joke!" Nick yelled.

"What now?" Coach asked.

"I don't know!" Rochelle replied.

"Hey, down there! Who are you guys?" a new voice yelled.

The group looked up and saw a man that looked like a biker.

"Well, what do you know?" Coach yelled. "Another survivor!"

Nick already didn't like the looks of this biker. He actually looked familiar…

"We thought we heard other survivors," said the biker.

"_We?_" Rochelle asked, surprised and excited. "You mean there's more?"

"Of course, sweetheart," the biker replied, winking at her.

"You think you could lower the bridge?" Rochelle asked, blushing.

"No can do, sweetheart," the biker replied sadly. "You'll have to go 'round and fuel up the generator to do that."

Now Nick was really pissed off.

"I'm asking you for the last Goddamn time!" he yelled. "Lower the Goddamn bridge, you vest-wearing grease-monkey!"

"Nick!" Rochelle scolded. "Honestly! You need to be more polite sometimes!"

"You're only saying that because _he_ likes _you_, and _you_ like _him_!" Nick yelled back, smirking.

Rochelle blushed again and turned back towards the bridge where the biker stood.

"Listen, we have a man that's unconscious and that needs serious medical help down here. Think you could help us out?" Rochelle asked.

The biker-man thought for a moment.

"I'll go get our group leader and see what he says," he replied after a while, turning around and walking towards the back of the bridge.

Francis walked up to Bill, who was chatting to Zoey and Louis. When Bill saw him, he got up and walked over to him.

"Well?" Bill asked.

"It's a group of four, like us," Francis replied. "I actually thought there were only three, until they asked for some help."

"What kind of help?"

"They have a man that's unconscious and in need of urgent medical help. I told them I'd ask you what to do."

Zoey, who overheard their conversation, decided to intervene.

"Bill, you can't possibly think that they are going to make it through all the dangers with an unconscious man if they go around to the generator, do you?" she asked. "I vote we let them climb up the bridge ladder, so we can help them."

Now Louis decided to intervene.

"Zoey, I want to help them as much as you do, but how the hell are they going to manage to get their man up that ladder. He can't exactly climb up, now can he?"

Zoey and Louis then started to argue. Bill and Francis looked at each other. For once, they agreed on a plan together.

"Enough!" Bill and Francis yelled in unison.

Zoey and Louis stopped bickering and looked at their fellow teammates.

"Thank you!" Francis exclaimed. "You were giving me a headache!"

"Francis…" Bill said in a threatening tone.

"Sorry, Bill. That opportunity was just too hard to resist," Francis replied, chuckling.

Bill glared at him. Then he faced the others.

"Alright, listen up!" he said. "Do we still have the rope we used to get Louis up here?"

"Oh, man," replied Louis. "I forgot about that…"

"Yes, we do," Zoey interrupted.

"Well, we can use that to bring their injured man up here, and then they can climb up themselves."

"I'll get the rope!" Zoey exclaimed, running further to the back of the bridge.

"I'll tell them our plan," Francis said, running back the way he came.

"I'll come with you and help you pull them up," Bill said, following Francis. After a few steps, he turned back to Louis, who was struggling to stand up. Bill walked back to him and put him back on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Louis yelled. "I want to help!"

"With that leg?" Bill asked. "Face it, Louis. Until that leg heals properly, you won't be able to do much. If anything, it's _you_ who needs help."

"Then what can I do?" Louis asked, disappointed.

"You can help me heal the injured guy and help protect him," Bill replied. "You can still shoot a gun, can't you?"

"I guess," Louis sighed. "I just really wish that I could help."

"You _are_ going to help, Louis," Bill reassured him, patting him on the shoulder. "You just can't do what you usually can do. But no-one can blame you. You are injured and all."

"Thanks, Bill," Louis said, a small smile on his face.

"Anytime, Louis," Bill replied, walking in the direction that Francis just went. "Anytime…"

**And there's chapter 3! Finally, the two groups meet! I wanted the ending to show my version of Bill's friend-friend relationship with Louis. I thought it was quite sweet. R&R please!**

**Until next time  
>D-ZombieDragon<br>**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey folks! Thanks again for all** **your lovely reviews! Before we get to the story, I think I'd better warn you that I had to go off some the characters' personality's a bit for this chapter to work. Hope you enjoy!**

**_It's Hard to Survive  
><em>_Chapter 4_**

"_Anytime…"_

The biker had arrived back at the front of the bridge, but this time, he brought someone else with him. Coach, Nick and Rochelle couldn't help but worry a bit. This new guy looked like an old war veteran. The new survivors prayed inwardly that these people would help them. If they didn't, then Ellis was doomed…

"Alright!" the biker yelled. "We have a plan! We have a rope up here that we used to get our injured man up here. If you could just tie it around your guy and hold him steady, then we can get him up here. After that, you guys can then climb the bridge ladder here!"

Coach, Nick and Rochelle all sighed in relief. These people were going to help them.

"One of our team members will be here soon to-Wait, here she is!" the biker yelled.

A female member of their group handed the biker-man a long piece of rope. She looked like a college student. She then turned around and headed back the way she came.

"Catch!" the biker yelled, throwing one end of the rope down towards them. Coach grabbed it and handed it to Nick, who immediately tied it around Ellis' body. When he was done, he gave the thumbs-up sign to the biker-man and war veteran, who immediately began to pull Ellis up towards them. It only took a few minutes and Ellis was soon on the bridge. Nick then climbed up the ladder and was shortly followed by Coach and Rochelle. When they all reached the top, they saw the biker-man and war veteran leaning over Ellis, mouths agape.

"Shit, he looks bad," Nick heard the war veteran murmur.

"Will he make it?" the biker asked.

"I don't know," the war veteran replied. "I didn't know he'd be this fucked up."

Nick couldn't wait anymore, so he stepped forward and coughed loudly. The two survivors looking at Ellis turned to face him.

"Right, right!" the biker exclaimed. "I guess introductions are in order. Let's go to the back and we'll introduce everyone."

They followed the biker and war veteran to the back, where they encountered the college girl and a new guy. This new guy looked like a manager of some kind. His leg was in pretty bad shape, so he must be the injured man the biker was telling them about.

"Yeah, that's Louis," the biker said, pointing at the manager. "I wouldn't get too attached to him, he'll probably be dead soon. I'm Francis."

"Name's Bill," the war veteran said.

"I'm Zoey," the college girl added. "Who are you guys?"

"I'm Coach," Coach replied.

"Name's Rochelle," Rochelle added.

Nick just kept quiet. Everyone looked over at him.

"What are you all staring at me for?" he exclaimed, folding his arms irritably and turning away. Coach sighed.

"The sourpuss here is Nick. He really isn't into trusting new people."

"Can't say I'm surprised," Francis replied.

"Wait, you didn't tell us who this guy is," Zoey reminded them, pointing at Ellis, who was lying on the floor.

"That there is Ellis," Coach replied, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

"Damn, he looks like shit," Louis observed. "What happened to him?"

Nick opened his mouth to reply, but closed it instantly and turned away again. Rochelle sighed.

"Well, we were fighting a big-ass horde, when suddenly, a Jockey grabbed Ellis. It started to lead him towards a Witch that we hadn't detected yet. We shot the little bastard, but when it fell, it pulled Ellis down, too. They were right above the Witch at the time, so Ellis ended up getting incapacitated by her. The burns were caused by Nick throwing a Molotov in an attempt to lead the Witch away from Ellis."

She stopped to see if anyone had any questions. Bill had one.

"Why in hell would the bastard throw a Molotov at an incapacitated survivor?"

"I was trying to freaking help him, okay!" Nick yelled, surprising everyone. "I wasn't trying to kill him! Jeez, you make it sound like I did it to deliberately hurt him!"

"Nick, calm down!" Rochelle exclaimed, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We know you weren't trying to hurt him, okay! Just calm down!"

As Nick calmed down, Louis moved over to Francis, who was sitting a few feet away.

"You're right, Francis," he whispered. "He's not friendly. I'm surprised Bill didn't shoot him yet."

"Carry on with your story, Rochelle," Zoey prompted.

"Well, okay," Rochelle replied. "Anyway, so after Ellis cr0wned the Witch before she could cause serious damage to Nick, he shoved Nick out of the way of a Charger and took the blow from it. Shortly after we killed it, a Smoker pulled Ellis away from us and started to claw at him. We killed it, but the smoke left behind was really thick, so it was really hard to find him. He got incapacitated by the Smoker, so he couldn't move. This was the perfect opportunity for a Hunter that was hiding in the smoke."

"Let me guess," Francis interrupted. "It jumped him, right?"

"Francis, don't interrupt!" Zoey scolded.

"No, Zoey, it's okay," Rochelle assured her. "Yes, Francis, it did. But luckily, the smoke cleared and Nick killed it. When Coach and I arrived, I immediately started healing Ellis. But my health-kit wasn't enough. Coach gave me his, but it still wasn't enough. Nick's wasn't enough, either. We saved Ellis' health-kit, since we didn't want to risk Ellis, or someone else, for that matter, to get seriously injured. But everything went downhill from there…"

Rochelle trailed off. She couldn't carry on.

"Rochelle, what happened?" Zoey asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"A Tank appeared and attacked us," Nick intervened, surprising everyone again. "Ellis shot me a few times and I got distracted. The Tank, in my brief distraction, threw a slab of concrete at me. Ellis pushed me out the way again and took the full blow. The Tank then picked him up and threw him into a nearby swamp, where he was attacked by the Mud People a few seconds later. While Coach and Rochelle killed the Tank, I dived into the swamp and rescued Ellis. When I got him out, he was half-drowned, unconscious and barely alive, so I performed CPR on him. I managed to get him to cough up all the swamp water, but he was still unconscious, so I shouldered him and carried him here. Luckily, we didn't run into many zombies on the way here after all that chaos."

When Nick finished the story, he turned and walked to the railings on the side of the bridge, leaving everyone in an awestruck silence. No-one knew what to say. Bill broke the silence.

"Goddammit! Son of a bitch!" he yelled. "No wonder he looks like shit! He's been ridden, slashed, charged, pummeled, pulled, constricted, clawed, pounced, trapped under concrete, thrown, dragged under water and drowned all in one day!"

"Do the special infected always go for him?" Zoey asked.

"Most of the time," Coach answered solemnly.

"Holy shit…"

"Damn, that kid is tough!" Louis exclaimed.

"He's as tough as Grandpa Bill!" Francis added.

"Francis…" Bill said in a threatening tone.

"What! It's true!" Francis pointed out. "He's as tough as you!"

"Well, anyway," Bill said, glaring at Francis. "Since I was a war veteran back in my day, I can probably take care of him. He should be fine, so you can stop worrying."

Coach and Rochelle sighed with relief.

"You hear that Nick?" Rochelle asked turning around. "Ellis is going to be o-"

She cut off; the reason is because she found that Nick wasn't behind her like he was a few minutes ago.

"Hey, where did Nick go?" she asked.

"He went to the front of the bridge," Coach replied. "Said he needed some time alone."

"That's not like him at all," Rochelle said. "I mean, he's been worried about Ellis a million times before, but never this much."

"Why would Nick be so worried about Ellis?" Francis asked. "Nick's an asshole! He doesn't care about anyone but himself!"

"How would you know?" Zoey asked curiously.

"We've crossed paths in the past," Francis responded.

"We did more than 'cross paths', Francis," a familiar voice interrupted.

Everyone looked up and saw Nick standing there. He looked mad. No, wait. That's an understatement. He looked like he was seething!

"Nick?" Rochelle asked nervously. "What do you mean?"

"We were in a gang together when we were younger," Nick began. "The normal tradition was to get a tattoo if you were part of the gang, like Grease-Monkey has here on his arm. I, though, didn't want a tattoo, so I got a ring instead."

He held up the ring for everyone to see. He then held it next to one of the many tattoos on Francis' right arm: it was a perfect match.

"We were good friends to begin with," Nick continued. "In fact, we were almost like brothers. But that was before the whole incident happened."

"What incident?" Louis asked.

"A couple of years after we joined the gang," Nick answered, "everyone in the gang went into a store to nick some stuff. I didn't go because I had other plans that day. The gang got away with a few things, but the cops arrived and arrested one of the gang members."

"Three guesses who," Bill murmured.

"Okay," Louis replied sarcastically. "I'm going to guess…Francis?"

"That's right," Nick replied. "When the cops took him in for questioning, he sold the whole group out, including me, even though I wasn't there! The police arrested everyone in the gang and took us in for questioning. When it was my turn, I simply told them that I wasn't there and that Francis was talking bullshit. Of course, they didn't believe me. They only believed me when they found out that my alibi checked out, so they removed me as an accomplice."

"What happened after that?" Coach asked.

"All I know is that the whole gang, except me, got jail-time. I left the city after that, for I knew that Francis would come after me. A few years after that and this whole Goddamn zombie apocalypse happened."

"Wouldn't the rest of the gang also come after you?" Louis asked.

"No," Nick replied. "They told me that I should not even have been in that mess, since I wasn't even there. They just told me to get out of the city as soon as I could. So I did."

"And you're still holding a grudge?" Francis asked. "I was young and I made a mistake."

"A mistake that almost cost me a few years of my life!" Nick exclaimed.

"Guys, that's enough!" Rochelle exclaimed. "What's in the past is in the past. Are you still in jail?" she asked Francis.

"No," Francis mumbled.

"And are you in jail?" she asked Nick.

"No," Nick mumbled.

"Then do us all a favor and put your differences aside and become friends again," Rochelle finished, folding her arms.

"And how are we going to do that?" Francis asked.

"You can start by apologizing, Francis," Zoey replied. "And you can finish by forgiving him and becoming friends again," she said to Nick.

"Fine," they answered in unison.

Francis walked up to Nick.

"I-I-I'm sorry, Nick," he apologized gruffly. "Are we friends again?"

Nick hesitated for a minute before answering gruffly, "Yeah, I guess so, Francis."

As they started to enjoy their rediscovered friendship, Rochelle and Zoey shook their heads and chuckled.

"Boys…"

**There's chapter 4! I got the idea of Francis and Nick knowing each other from the fact that they both have the same symbol:A tattoo on Francis' right arm and a ring on Nick's hand bear the same symbol. Hope you enjoyed it!**

**Until next time  
>D-ZombieDragon<br>**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey folks! Loved all my lovely reviews, including the ones I got for my other fanfic! I'm not really sure about this chapter, though, so tell me what you think. Hope you enjoy!**

**It's Hard to Survive  
><strong>**Chapter 5**

_"Boys…"_

Nick was getting really worried about Ellis. He hasn't moved or talked the whole time they've been there. He hasn't even woken up! Bill walked up to him and sat down beside him.

"Stop worrying, Nick," he said. "The boy's taken quite a beating. He's lucky he's still alive!"

Nick didn't reply, but he got up and walked away from Bill and Ellis. Bill stared after him in disbelief.

"Bill, you mustn't be mad at him," a voice said behind him. "He's been through a lot."

Bill looked up in surprise and saw Rochelle standing behind him. She sat down next to him.

"What do you mean?" he asked gruffly.

Rochelle was a bit taken aback by the gruffness in his voice, but replied nevertheless.

"Well, even though none of us wanted to get close to each other, all of us, including Nick, couldn't help but get attached to the positive 23-year-old mechanic. The kid always made good of a bad situation. He never gave up, no matter how grim the situation looked. That got to all of us, so we got attached to him, but Coach and I couldn't get closer to him than Nick has. Nick and Ellis are like brothers, even though Nick would never admit it. You can see in his eyes how much he cares about the kid. Coach and I know how devastated he'd be if Ellis…didn't…make it. Actually, we'd all be devastated."

"Really?" Bill asked, surprised.

"You don't know how easy it is to get attached to Ellis, Bill," Rochelle added sadly.

Bill just stared. He didn't know that this group was so attached to the kid. It was just like his father-daughter relationship with Zoey.

"If Nick has a brother-brother relationship with Ellis, then what are your relationships with him?" he asked curiously.

Rochelle knew that Bill was referring to her and Coach.

"Well," she answered, "I'd say Coach and Ellis have a sort-of father-son relationship. I think my relationship with him is either a mother-son relationship or a brother-sister relationship."

"There's a big difference," Bill pointed out. "I think you're more the mother type. I'd say that you both have a mother-son relationship."

"That sounds right," Rochelle responded happily. "Thanks, Bill."

"No, thank you, Rochelle," Bill insisted. "Thanks for telling me a bit more about your 'family'."

Rochelle smiled and stood up. She walked towards where Nick was standing. Bill now saw that Coach was there, too. He and Rochelle were probably trying to comfort Nick, or possibly each other. Bill sighed, stood up and walked towards where his group was sitting. He moved so fast, that he didn't notice Ellis' hand move…

Nick was pacing back and forth beside the edge of the bridge. He couldn't stand all this anxiety and uncertainty. His mind was racing with tragic thoughts.

_'What if he doesn't make it? What if he never wakes up? What if-'_

"He's waking up!" a voice shouted, interrupting Nick's thoughts.

But that didn't matter. Nick knew instantly who that voice belonged to and who it was talking about. It was Rochelle. Nick ran back across the bridge, towards where everyone had gathered. He saw Ellis in the middle, twitching and mumbling. Zoey was leaning over him, shaking him in an attempt to wake him up. It seemed to be working, as he began to move more than twitch. He then groaned and opened his eyes. He looked up at Zoey and weakly smiled.

"Am I dead?" he asked, voice cracking. "'Cause you look lot like an angel."

Everyone burst out laughing, more hysterically than funny-ha-ha laughter. Ellis wakes up for the first time in a week and falls in love with the girl from the other group. Now they've seen everything.

"Oh, come on, guys," Zoey tried to say in between fits of hysterical laughter. "I think it's kind of cute."

This caused everyone to laugh louder. That is, until Ellis started complaining and asking questions.

"Oh, man. I feel worse than Keith did on his worst days. What happened?"

"Hmm, let's see," Nick replied sarcastically. "You got jumped by a Jockey, slashed by a Witch, burnt by a Molotov, charged and pummeled by a Charger, constricted and clawed by a Smoker, pounced by a Hunter, crushed and thrown by a Tank, and finally, almost got drowned by the Mud People!"

"Holy shit," Ellis mumbled. "That bad?"

"I'm not finished," Nick continued. "You were then out cold for a week!"

"A week?"

"Yes, and if it wasn't for this group of survivors," Nick continued, gesturing to Bill, Francis, Louis and Zoey, "it would've been forever!"

Ellis just stared, bewildered and confused. But mostly, he was just staring at Zoey. _'What a beautiful girl…'_

"Hey, Overalls, did you hear me?" Nick asked, interrupting Ellis' thoughts.

"Wha-Oh, yeah, I heard ya," Ellis replied dreamily. "Thanks, y'all. Now, what're your names?"

"Name's Bill."

"I'm Francis."

"I'm Louis."

"Mine's Zoey."

_'Zoey,'_ Ellis thought dreamily. _'So that's her name…'_

His thoughts were interrupted once again by Coach, Nick and Rochelle crowding around him, all obviously relieved that Ellis was alright.

"You alright, youn'un?" Coach asked.

"You sure you're okay, sweetie?" Rochelle asked.

"Glad not to have lost you, kid," Nick added.

"Hey, y'all," Ellis interrupted, "can I get up an' stretch my legs?"

"Let's get you up then, Ellis," Nick responded, picking Ellis up by the arm.

"Well," Bill interrupted, "now that we know the boy's okay, we need to talk about how we're going to stay here. We're really running low on supplies…"

"Bill," Zoey interrupted, "why don't you, Coach, Rochelle and I go look for supplies. You know for a fact that Ellis and Louis are still incapable of doing that type of thing."

"What about Francis and me?" Nick asked.

"You guys are going to stay here and protect Ellis and Louis," Zoey answered. "They can't run away with their injuries, even though they can shoot."

"Good point," Nick responded.

"Why can't I go?" Francis whined.

"Nick can't stay here by himself on the bridge to protect Ellis _and_ Louis."

"I hate protecting."

"Honestly, Francis. Is there anything you don't hate," Bill responded irritably.

"Hey, Francis, why don't you check these magazines we collected over the past few weeks," Zoey prompted sarcastically. "Maybe you'll find the latest issue of Hating Everything Magazine here."

"I hate latest issues," Francis responded.

"Well, we don't care what you hate, you're staying here," Bill said harshly.

"Fine," Francis answered, folding his arms irritably.

"Okay, now that's sorted out," Bill continued, "we'd better go before nightfall. It'll be safer that way."

"Can we get going?" Zoey asked.

"Good to go," Coach responded.

"I got your back," Rochelle added.

"Then let's get going!" Bill exclaimed, leading the way down the bridge.

As the others followed Bill, Ellis really felt like following them. He couldn't let his friends get hurt.

"Francis and I are just going to patrol the bridge," Nick said, interrupting Ellis' thoughts once again. "We'll be right back."

He then knelt down beside Ellis.

"You try anything funny," he whispered harshly, "and I'll kill you with your own gun."

With that, Nick got up and followed Francis. Ellis stared. Did Nick know what he was planning? Well, whether he knew or not, a few harsh words weren't going to stop Ellis. Neither was Louis going to, as he was on the other side with Nick and Francis. They would've moved him to where Ellis was sitting, but Bill thought that it was too big of a risk, in case they damaged Louis' leg further. So, Ellis was alone. Just the way he wanted.

Ellis got up slowly and walked towards the ladder. He experienced great difficulty as he climbed down the ladder, but managed nonetheless. He then followed the path that the others took.

"Ellis is back, y'all. Ellis is back."

**There's chapter 5! Sorry it's a bit shorter, but it was the only way for it to work. Hoped you enjoyed! R&R Please!  
><strong>

**Until next time**  
><strong>D-ZombieDragon<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey folks! Here's Chapter 5! I'd better tell you that this chapter might not make much sense, but it was the only way to get past this part of the story, so please, no flames about it making almost no sense. Thanx! Hope you enjoy!**

_**It's Hard to Survive  
><strong>**Chapter 6**_

_"Ellis is back…"_

Bill, Coach, Rochelle and Zoey had arrived at the nearby abandoned supermarket to gather their supplies.

"All right, this is how it will work," Bill said. "Coach, you will go and get our food supplies. Rochelle, you'll go with him to make sure that he doesn't eat all of our supplies and to get me some cigarettes. Zoey, you and I will go and get our weapon and ammunition supplies. Sound good?"

"Sure," Rochelle answered.

"Fo' sure," Coach responded.

"Sweet!" Zoey added.

They went in different directions and set to work. But as they worked, they didn't notice the pair of yellow eyes watching their every move…

_**Fifteen minutes later...**_

As Bill and the others finished gathering their supplies, they heard a soft, growling sound. A different sound, one they've never heard before. They then saw a crouched form creeping towards them. At first, they thought it was a Hunter, so they got out their weapons. But as the figure got closer, they saw that it was wearing a black hoodie, while Hunters usually wore dark-blue ones. It had no tape on its arms or legs. It was also acting differently. It wasn't growling the distinctive Hunter growl.

Suddenly, the strange creature threw back its head and howled a wolf-like howl. It then jumped towards them, claws out and ready to attack. Before the survivors could register what was happening, another figure dashed in front of them and hit the offending creature back with a baseball bat. The creature stumbled with a startled yelp, but recovered and attacked its attacker. The other survivors jerked out of their shocked state and ran to help their savior, who was being brutally attacked by the strange creature.

Coach and Rochelle knocked the creature back and shot it in the head, while Bill and Zoey ran over to their savior, who was on the ground, unconscious. Zoey looked at this person as he came into view. Blue-black overalls, yellow T-shirt, baseball cap…

'Oh, shit…' she thought.

It was Ellis.

"Ellis…" Zoey whispered.

Bill stared, mouth agape, at Zoey. Since the boy was covered in blood, it was hard to identify him.

"You're sure?" he asked, surprised and shocked.

"Who else do we know wears blue-black overalls, a yellow T-shirt and a tow truck baseball cap?" Zoey asked.

"What's going on?" someone asked behind them.

"Who's the guy that saved us?" another, deeper voice asked.

Bill and Zoey turned around to see Coach and Rochelle standing behind them.

"What's wrong?" Rochelle asked again. "Who's the guy that saved us?"

"It's-it's-it's," Zoey stammered.

"It's Ellis," Bill finished, sighing sadly.

Coach and Rochelle just stared.

"Is he alright?" Coach asked.

"I'm going to check now," Bill answered.

Bill knelt down and started to check Ellis over. He then stood up and faced the others.

"Nothing serious," he assured them. "Just some claw marks. He should be fine."

"That's good," Zoey responded. "But what I want to know is what that creature that attacked us in the first place is."

"It's called a Howler," a voice said behind them.

They looked behind them and saw that Ellis had woken up and was in a sitting position.

"A Howler?" Bill asked. "How do you know?"

"Let's just say that I've encountered one before," Ellis answered.

"But that's not the point!" Rochelle yelled suddenly, causing Ellis to flinch. "What the hell were you doing here in the first place?"

"I had a feeling that y'all would need my help," Ellis answered.

"Do Nick, Francis and Louis know that you're here?" Coach asked.

Ellis suddenly felt extremely guilty.

"No," he admitted.

Bill placed a hand on Ellis' shoulder.

"Son, we left you there for a reason," Bill said. "You're already injured enough. Did you know that when you were out cold for a week, it was fucking touch and go for you! Your group is really attached to you, imagine how they would feel if you were to die now?"

Ellis looked away guiltily, but Bill noticed something on Ellis' neck. But he couldn't make out what it was, as it was covered in blood.

"Ellis, what's that on your neck?" he asked, stretching his hand towards it.

Ellis, though, jerked away at the touch and stood up.

"It's nothing," he replied.

Bill wasn't convinced. He walked up to Ellis and pulled his shirt collar down. It was a bite wound.

"Goddammit!" he yelled, surprising everyone.

"What's wrong?" Zoey asked.

"Is Ellis alright?" Rochelle asked.

"Why's he looking so pale?" Coach asked.

Bill, confused, looked and saw that indeed Ellis' features were changing.

"Ellis, have you been bitten before?" he asked.

"Yes, of course," Ellis answered. "Why?"

"You're growing really pale…" Bill responded.

Before any of the survivors could react, Ellis suddenly fell to his hands and knees and screamed in pain. He felt his nails grow and sharpen, his arms and legs growing stronger, and his teeth sharpen. He threw back his head and let out one more scream before collapsing on the ground, breathing heavily. The others walked towards him.

"Ellis?" Zoey asked hesitantly.

Ellis jumped up on all fours and growled. Zoey and the others jumped back, startled. Ellis threw back his head and howled. He then started to walk towards them, but before he could attack, he was back on the ground, screeching in pain. When the screams subsided, Ellis got up on all fours again, but made no move to attack. Bill took out his pistol and pointed it towards Ellis, but he couldn't pull the trigger.

'Dammit!' he thought. 'Rochelle was right. Getting attached to Ellis is too easy, even if you don't want to get attached to him.'

Howler-Ellis saw the gun being pointed at him and backtracked into a wall behind him. He yelled out in defense.

"Bill, wait! Don't shoot! It's me, Ellis!"

Bill and the others looked at Ellis in shock. Ellis had just spoken in clear English. They also noticed that his eyes were still blue, instead of the yellow color that the infected usually have. Zoey took a chance and walked over to Ellis.

"Ellis, can you understand me?" she asked.

"Yes," Ellis answered. "Wait a minute, can you understand me?"

"Yes", Zoey answered.

"But how is that possible?" Ellis asked.

"We don't know, Ellis, but be thankful that it is possible," Zoey responded.

Bill suddenly had an idea. He walked up to Ellis.

"Ellis, this is going sound weird, but try thinking about being human," he asked.

Ellis didn't know why Bill had just asked this, but decided to give it a try. He closed his eyes and put this thought in his mind. He felt his body give a few quick and painless jerks and cracks. When they subsided, Ellis opened his eyes and saw that he was normal again. He looked at Bill.

"Bill, are you saying that I can turn into a zombie and a human at will?" he asked.

"I guess so," Bill replied.

"But how did you know?" Rochelle asked.

"Before I met Zoey, Louis and Francis, I heard that there have been scattered cases that involved people getting infected, but being able to keep their minds," Bill answered. "But in some cases, one person will also be able to turn into a zombie and a human at will. When Ellis yelled at us in English, I remembered this and decided to check if Ellis had that same power."

"Well, he fo' sure has that power," Coach responded.

He then walked up to Ellis and handed him a black hoodie-the same hoodie that the Howler that bit him wore.

"Thanks, Coach," Ellis said. "I might need this."

"You're welcome, Ellis," Coach responded. "Now, we might need to get moving back to the bridge."

"Sure. You lead," Rochelle said, gesturing to Bill.

"C'mon, let's go!" Bill exclaimed.

As they all left the supermarket, Coach walked up to Ellis and murmured to him.

"Nick is going to give you hell when we get back, boy."

**There's chapter 5! Hope you enjoyed it and remember, please no flames if it made almost no sense. Thanx!  
>R&amp;R Please!<strong>

**One more thing: the Howler is my own made-up special infected, it's appearance I kinda got from the Hunter, besides the lack of tape on it's arms and legs and the black-hoodie. If you wish to use it, please ask my permission first. **Thanx!**  
><strong>

**Until next time  
>D-ZombieDragon<br>**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey y'all! Sorry it took me a while to update. Just took me a while to think of a new chapter. But don't worry! I never abandon my stories! Thanks for all my reviews! Now here's chapter 7!**

_**It's Hard to Survive  
><strong>**Chapter 7**_

_"Nick is going to give you hell when we get back, boy…"_

Nick stood behind the bridge railing, waiting impatiently for the others to come back. He knew that Ellis had gone after them, which made his blood boil. He had told the kid to stay put, but no, the kid had to go after the others and put himself in serious danger. Nick knew that Ellis would be a target for the infected, as he was badly injured; this also caused him to walk more slowly than usual. In short, Nick was worried.

But Nick wasn't the only one that was worried. Louis and Francis were also anxious about Ellis. They had also witnessed Nick's anger, which they did not want to witness again anytime soon. They waited with Nick for Ellis and the others to come back. But they didn't have to wait long… 

Nick soon spotted Bill, Coach, Rochelle and Zoey coming up to the bridge, but this time, they had someone else with them: Ellis. As they climbed up the bridge, Nick immediately saw that something was wrong. Ellis wasn't his normal self, physically and mentally. He looked really pale, and he wasn't the usual free spirit that everyone knew. He walked up to Ellis and the others.

"What happened?" he asked, slowly and quietly.

Even though he asked this slowly and quietly, the others could hear the anger in Nick's voice. Bill stepped forward.

"It's a long story," he replied.

"We've got all day," Nick responded, gesturing to Louis and Francis, who were standing behind him.

Ellis stepped forward nervously, not meeting Nick's murderous glare. He muttered something inaudibly.

"Sorry, kid. Can't hear you," Nick responded, as if mocking Ellis.

"I'm infected," Ellis repeated, barely above a whisper.

But Nick heard what Ellis had said. He stood there and waited for the news to sink in. He just couldn't believe it.

"Bullshit," Nick responded, not knowing who he was trying to convince: himself or Ellis. "This is one of your jokes, isn't it, Ellis? You're pulling my leg?"

"Nick, would I joke about something as serious as this?" Ellis asked sadly.

Nick stood there again, pondering over his thoughts. He knew what was coming. But he wasn't going to shoot Ellis. Someone else would have to do it. He just wouldn't be able to do the deed.

Ellis seemed to know what Nick was thinking, as he quickly stammered an explanation.

"B-but it's okay, Nick. I'm not a f-full zombie. I guess you could call me a were-zombie, but just minus all the 'full moon and no control' shit. But according to Bill, the right name is a Halfie. I'm one of them Howlers."

Howlers. This word repeated in Nick's head over and over. He had encountered one before, and boy, were they tough things! It took him a full ten minutes to kill it!

"An' if ya don't believe me," Ellis continued, "jus' watch."

And Nick watched. He, Louis and Francis saw the whole of Ellis' transformation. It looked painful to Nick, but he couldn't tell. When it was finished, Ellis got up on all fours and sat on his haunches, facing Nick, Louis and Francis.

"Y'all believe me now?" Ellis asked.

Before they could answer, a loud roar erupted down below the bridge. Everyone looked down and saw a Tank attempting to climb up the ladder. They all burst out laughing.

"That Tank is so thick!" Nick yelled between fits of laughter. "Can't it see that it's too big to-"

What the Tank was too big to do, no-one found out, as Nick was cut off by a Smoker, who had taken the opportunity to grab him and pull him right off the bridge! Coach, on instinct, shot the Smoker. This caused the tongue holding Nick to slacken, which then resulted to him falling towards the Tank waiting below! The Tank roared in what sounded like satisfaction, and threw out its fist towards Nick. Nick was knocked back towards the ground, incapacitated, but otherwise unhurt.

Before anyone could react, they heard a loud, angry screech. They looked just in time to see a blur of black and blue dash past them and jump down below the bridge. The blur was Ellis.

Ellis lunged in front of the Tank and crouched protectively over Nick. He growled and hissed at the Tank.

_"Stay away from this human, Tank! He's with me!"_ Ellis snarled.

_"Get your own meal, Howler! You have no business here!"_ the Tank roared in response.

Ellis screeched and lunged towards the Tank, landing on its head. He then proceeded to scratch the Tank's face. The Tank lashed out and knocked Ellis off. Ellis landed on the ground on all fours and immediately lunged again. His claws continued to tear at the Tank's face, until he heard the sounds of gunshots coming from the bridge. Ellis saw his friends coming down from the bridge in an attempt to help him and Nick. The Tank roared in frustration and anger, and grabbed Ellis' leg. The Tank then threw Ellis with all its strength towards a wall. Ellis spun through the air. He then released a loud screech of pain; his leg that was pulled by the Tank had taken the full impact of the Tank's blow against the wall. Ellis collapsed on the ground, unable to move. But then he saw the Tank try one last shot at getting its meal. It started to charge once again towards Nick. Ellis shot up on all fours and lunged again, releasing a loud, angry screech as he did so.

The Tank, now seeing that it wasn't going to get an easy meal, tried a different tactic. It avoided Ellis' pounce and then turned to face him.

_"Fine, have the guy in the white suit,"_ the Tank growled. _"I think I'll prefer having the fat one instead."_

The Tank then turned and charged towards the other survivors. But mostly, it was after Coach. But Ellis lunged in front of Coach and growled at the Tank. The Tank tried the other survivors, but Ellis would always lunge in front of them. There was one survivor that the Tank hadn't tried getting: Zoey.

When Ellis saw the Tank charge towards Zoey, he felt a great anger build up in his chest. He gave a howl of fury and leapt onto the Tank's back.

_"You'll not hurt any of them!"_ he screeched.

Using an unknown instinct that he didn't know he had, Ellis grabbed the Tank's head and twisted it with all his strength, until he heard a sickening, yet satisfying snap, indicating that he had broken the Tank's neck. The Tank suddenly went limp and fell to the ground, Ellis now under its corpse.

Before the others could react, Ellis lunged out from underneath the Tank and despite his probably broken leg, ran towards Nick.

"C'mon, Nick! Get up, get up!" Ellis exclaimed, nudging him encouragingly.

Nick slowly got up, leaning against Ellis for support. The others ran over to help.

"So much for the Tank being so thick," Bill chuckled.

But Nick wasn't listening. He was looking at Ellis, who had gone very quiet at that moment. Nick also saw that Ellis had turned back to his normal self. He started to walk over to Ellis, but someone else beat him to it.

Zoey walked up to Ellis and started to check him over for any other injuries. Nick smiled, glad that the problem was taken care of, and turned to limp back towards the bridge with the others.

Zoey was glad that the others had left her and Ellis alone. She needed to talk to him in private. She got out her health-kit and got all the necessities out. But when she tried to use them on Ellis, he waved her off.

"'M fine, Zoey. Just tired, is all," he said.

"Ellis, you have a broken leg and possibly other injuries as well. I need to heal you," Zoey insisted.

Ellis eventually gave in, and she proceeded in healing him. During the silence that followed, Zoey decided that now was the time to talk to Ellis.

"Hey, thanks for saving me from that Tank," she said.

"No problem," Ellis replied. "Can't have a Tank hurt y'all, now can I?

Zoey decided a different tactic. She was going to get the truth out of him whether he liked it or not.

"But you seemed more angry than usual when the Tank attacked Nick and I. Now, I can understand Nick, but why me, Ellis? We've only just met and you're already looking out for me and protecting me most of all, next to Nick, that is."

Ellis blushed slightly.

"Well…I...uh…" he stammered.

"You have a crush on me, don't you?" Zoey asked, smiling.

Ellis' cheeks became much redder.

"Alright, who squealed?" he asked. "It was Nick, wasn't it? Knew I couldn't trust that-"

"Actually," Zoey interrupted, "I kind of figured it out on my own."

"How?" Ellis asked with his mouth slightly agape.

Zoey slid her hand into his.

"Because I have one on you," she whispered.

Ellis' face broke into a big smile. Zoey happily returned it. Ellis leaned in and locked their lips in a kiss. The kiss was hesitant at first, but soon grew more deep and passionate. After a few minutes, they broke apart for breath. They looked at each other and their eyes locked. They heard a yell from the bridge.

"I think we'd better get back," Zoey said.

"Yeah, I agree," Ellis replied, standing up.

They walked back towards the bridge, hand-in-hand. Ellis was suddenly hit with a thought. He stopped and turned to Zoey.

"Zoey, do ya like me even though I'm half-infected?" he asked hesitantly.

Zoey looked at him, gave him a small peck on his cheek and answered.

"Love has no boundaries, Ellis."

**And there it is! From now on, italics will be zombie language. Also, it seems that the infected are getting smarter. I also made up the name 'Halfie'. Hope you enjoyed it! I'm still a bit unsure about the ending, though. This was my first time writing something with romance in it. But please tell me what you think! I love my reviews! They keep me going!**

**Until next time  
>D-ZombieDragon<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey y'all! Finally got round to updating this. Thanks for all my lovely reviews! Sorry it took a while. Hope you enjoy this chapter :)**

_**It's Hard to Survive**_

_**Chapter 8  
><strong>_

_"Love has no boundaries, Ellis…"_

It had been two weeks since Ellis had killed that Tank. The group of eight had decided to move on from the bridge, as Louis was now strong enough to travel and Bill had managed to splint Ellis' broken leg so that he can walk (or limp) on it. The group wanted to reach an evac and they weren't going to achieve anything of the sort by staying there on the bridge. The group picked up their weapons-Ellis taking the grenade launcher-and they all prepared to leave.

"So, where we headed?" Louis asked.

"N'awlins." Coach answered. "It was the only place that hadn't fallen when we checked that map in the hotel. I think it's our best option."

The others looked at each other, and then sighed. Coach was right. It wasn't just their best option, it was their only option.

"Yeah, but what if there is no evac?" Nick asked, interrupting everyone else's thoughts. "What if it's just like the others? Overrun and empty? What do we do then?"

Everyone fell silent. They hadn't thought of that. A few minutes later, Ellis stepped forward.

"Well…we could try and travel on to Cali if there's nothin' in New Orleans," Ellis suggested.

"Cali?" Rochelle asked.

"I'm sure he means California, right Ellis?" Zoey asked.

"Yup."

"What makes you think that California's going to be any better?" Nick asked.

Ellis rubbed the back of his head.

"On the news, there were them reports on where all the evacs were and shit. They mentioned Cali somewhere near the end, but I didn't think anythin' by it. All wha' was on my mind was to get to The Vannah Hotel, find Keith, and get the hell outta there. Of course, I didn't find Keith, but instead you guys. When I saw the chopper leave, I knew tha' I had to stick with y'all to stay alive. Y'all know the rest…"

Everyone fell silent, deep in thought. Bill spoke up.

"Well, it's a plan. We'll head there if there's nothing in New Orleans. Now, are we all ready to go?"

Everyone nodded their heads in response.

"Then let's move out!" Bill exclaimed, proceeding to climb down the bridge ladder.

Once they were all off the bridge, they headed down the road that would-eventually-lead them to New Orleans.

* * *

><p>They had been walking for hours now. Everyone was surprised at how well Ellis could walk even with a broken leg. Francis started to complain.<p>

"I hate walking," he whined. "Why couldn't we use that car of yours?"

"'Cause, if we did, Ellis would've bled to death," Coach answered. "We were trying to find a car battery to replace the dead one. We couldn't do that after the young'un was attacked, for if we had wasted anymore time, he would not be here. So quit whinin' and start walkin'."

Francis grumbled but kept quiet. They passed a couple of billboards, but only one caught Coach's eye.

"Hey," he said. "Whispering Oaks. Shit, I used to go there when I was a kid."

"Oh, good. Now we can die there as adults," Nick replied, smirking.

Coach gave a small chuckle as they continued walking. Suddenly, Ellis stopped abruptly.

"What is it, Ellis?" Zoey asked. She was the only one that noticed Ellis' sudden stop. The others kept walking.

"Hold up a second, y'all," Ellis said.

"What is it?" Louis asked, stopping. The others stopped too.

Ellis strained his ears and looked around. Being a Halfie had its benefits. Ellis now had heightened senses of smell, sight and hearing. He spotted something in the nearby bushes.

Growling, Ellis quickly turned into his Howler form and crept slowly on all fours towards the bushes. He stood there for a second, sniffing around the bushes. Suddenly, he jumped into them, and a scuffle started between him and the unknown threat.

The group was about to go over and help Ellis, when he and the unknown threat came tumbling out of the bushes. When they came out of their tumble, the group saw what the threat was: A Hunter. But this didn't look like any ordinary Hunter. It looked much bigger and stronger. Ellis and the Hunter started to circle each other.

_"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" _the Hunter snarled._ "An ickle Howler protecting his-dare I say it?-friends? What are you, a Halfie or a Mind Keeper (1)?"_

_"It doesn't matter what I am!" _Ellis snapped._ All tha' matters is tha' ya leave."_

_"Oh, I'm shaking!" _the Hunter mocked._ "Like I would be scared of you! I'm much bigger and stronger than you! You might be a Howler, which is the third strongest infected, next to the Tank and the Witch, but you haven't been one for long. That means you don't know your true strengths! To top that off, I'm an Alpha (2) Hunter, and Alphas are stronger than any other of their kind!"_

_"I don't care 'bout tha'!" _Ellis snarled._ "If I can take down a Tank by myself, then I can sure as hell take you down!"_

_"Alone, maybe," _the Hunter growled, an evil smile forming on his face._ "But the truth is…I'm not alone."_

The Hunter gestured to the bushes behind him and gave a short growl. Out from the bushes came one, two, three, four, five, six other Hunters! Ellis gave a short whimper, but stood his ground between the Hunter pack and his teammates. The Hunters surrounded him, blocking any route of escape. Ellis started to panic as they closed in, getting closer and closer. The Alpha Hunter smiled.

_"Kill him…" _

The Omegas (3) pounced on Ellis, intending to tear him apart. What they didn't expect was for multiple gunshots to ring out and hit them. They screeched in pain and jumped off of Ellis, giving him enough time to escape. He ran behind a nearby truck and turned back to normal. He then picked up his abandoned grenade launcher and stepped out from behind the truck. He aimed towards the pack of Hunters, who were closing in on his teammates, and fired.

The grenade landed in the middle of the pack and exploded on impact. The Omega Hunters were stunned, so they didn't stand a chance. They gave a dying screech as black succumbed them.

The Alpha Hunter, who was watching from the bushes, was shocked. No-one had been able to beat, let alone kill, his pack. He turned to the now human Ellis and growled.

_"You may have won today, Howler. But that was just one victory. You haven't seen the last of me."_

He growled again, then turned tail and ran into the bushes again. He didn't re-emerge.

Ellis sighed in relief and slung the grenade launcher over his back. He looked over towards his teammates. They were all huddled around Nick. Ellis started to panic and ran over.

"Dumbshit," he heard Nick whisper. Apparently, Nick had been too close to the grenade blast and had injured his leg. Blood was seeping out of the cut in his leg. Coach got out his med-kit and started to put gauze and bandages on the leg. Francis started to grumble.

"Well that's just great. Now we've got three men with leg injuries. Now what?"

Bill looked at Nick's injured leg.

"It's not that bad," he stated. "I gotta say, though, that he was pretty damn lucky that the grenade blast hadn't taken his whole leg off. It's just a cut. He should be fine."

Ellis sighed in relief once again.

"I'm real sorry, Nick," he said. "I was trying to stop those Hunters from gettin' y'all. I didn't know tha' you were too close to the blast."

Nick stayed silent, but Ellis knew that this was the best he was going to get from him. At least he didn't insult him like he usually did.

"Can ya walk, Nick?" Coach asked.

"I think so," Nick replied, slowly getting to his feet.

As they continued their journey, Zoey walked up to Ellis and took his hand.

"You were very brave back there," she complimented, giving him a peck on the cheek.

"Thanks. It was nothin', really," he replied, face going red.

The others heard their exchange and turned around to compliment Ellis. Even Nick managed a "Good job" compliment, which was more than Ellis expected. He knew that Nick cared about him like a brother, but Nick didn't show it around Ellis or the others, unless at quite rare times. During this small exchange, Ellis suddenly spotted something in the far distance.

"Look, searchlights," he said, pointing towards them. "That's the first sign of life we've seen in a hundred miles."

Everyone looked to where he was pointing, and saw the searchlights.

"That there is Whispering Oaks," Coach said.

"Let's head towards the searchlights. If there's an evac, it'll be there," Nick responded.

They started to head towards the searchlights. Louis, though, had a gnawing feeling in his stomach, something he hadn't felt since the apocalypse started.

"I got a bad feeling about this…"

**(1) A Mind-Keeper is kinda what Bill had mentioned in one of the previous chapters, when someone turns but keeps his/her mind. It's like a Halfie, except it can't turn into a human and zombie at will. It stays a zombie.**

**(2) An Alpha is the leader of a pack, or in this case, a Hunter pack. It's also bigger than others of their kind.  
><strong>

**(3) An Omega is a member and/or fighter of a pack.**

**I really hope y'all enjoyed that chapter. I now got a question for you: who should be Rochelle's boyfriend in a later chapter? Francis or Nick? Please leave your answers in your reviews. R&R, please!  
><strong>

**Until next time**  
><strong>D-ZombieDragon<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, y'all! Sorry it took me a while to update! My school's doing mid-year exams and we've been doing a lot of revision.****Anyways, thanks to those who reviewed my last chapter and I hope y'all enjoy this one!**_**  
><strong>_

_**It's Hard to Survive  
><strong>__**Chapter 9**_

_"I got a bad feeling about this…"_

The group of eight headed towards the searchlights. Ellis soon broke the silence.

"I ever tell ya 'bout the time my buddy Keith almost blew us and our shop to smithereens? We was working on a truck with a battery problem and he wondered wha' would happen if he put another car's battery in and turned on the ignition. It didn't end well. Oh, man! If it wasn't for our friend, Dave, I don't know wha' mighta happened! We was in the hospital for like a month or something, and the owner of the truck was not happy, neither…"

"Ellis, is now the best time?" Nick asked sarcastically.

"Okay."

Pretty soon, the group found their path completely blocked by a truck. Ellis pulled his hoodie off of his head and looked around for another way.

"Highway's blocked. Let's cut through the motel," he suggested.

Having no other choice, the rest of the team complied. They became more alert when they started to hear the faint cries of the Night Witch.

"I'm going to give that Witch something to cry about," Rochelle whispered.

They climbed up the stairs to the second floor and were just about to jump down to get over the fence, when Coach stopped them.

"I see that Bitch!" he whispered, pointing down below them.

The others looked, and sure enough, there was the Witch, sitting right where they needed to go. Nick hissed in annoyance.

"Now what?" he asked. "We can't sneak past her; there's no way. We can't throw a Molotov; she'll just go after whoever set her alight. We can't use Overalls' grenade launcher; there's only one grenade left, and we can't use a pipe bomb; that'll just anger her even more."

"I've got a shotgun," Rochelle spoke up. "We can use it to cr0wn her."

"I guess that'll have to do," Nick sighed. "Give it here, Ro."

Rochelle hesitantly handed her shotgun over to Nick. He was about to take position, when he heard a voice behind him.

"Nick, there's no way in hell yer goin' to be able to pull this off with tha' injury. What if ya miss? Someone else better do it."

Nick realized that it was Ellis and turned around to face him.

"Are you volunteering?" he asked. "You're no healthier than me, Overalls. You're also injured."

"Okay, okay. Jeez, just an idea, is all."

"Guys, that's enough," Zoey intervened. "You're both not in shape enough to do this. There's the possibility that you'll both miss. Give me the shotgun, Nick."

Nick reluctantly handed over the shotgun to Zoey and stepped back. Ellis, of course, was NOT happy with the idea. Zoey quickly reassured him and he seemed to calm down (a bit). Zoey crouched down on the edge of the balcony and took aim at the Witch's head.

Ready…  
>Aim…<p>

Just as she was about to pull the trigger, a Smoker's tongue flew out of the darkness and grabbed her arm-the one that was holding the shotgun-and pulled. Bill knocked the Smoker off of her, but it was too late. The sudden force of the Smoker's tongue had caused Zoey to pull the trigger. The bullet sailed towards the Witch and hit her in the arm. The sobbing ceased and a scream echoed through the air. The Witch climbed up the balcony and turned towards them, her arms open in Death's embrace. She ran towards the very person who startled her: Zoey.

Zoey stood there in complete shock. She couldn't move, even as the Witch came closer and closer. It wasn't until Bill came up and tried to pull her out of harm's way that she snapped out of her trance and ran for her life. The rest of the team took out their guns and fired multiple times at the Witch. Everything was going well, until Zoey lost her footing and fell hard on the floor.

Ellis quickly pulled his hoodie over his head, turned into a Howler and ran after Zoey and the Witch. He ran right in front of the Witch and growled. The Witch swiped at Ellis, but he dodged. The Witch turned and ran in the opposite direction. Ellis howled and gave chase, speeding past the others, who were on their way to help Zoey. They watched Ellis and the Witch jump off the balcony and out of sight, their screams and howls echoing through the air.

As the others finally went over to help Zoey, the screams and howls suddenly stopped. All was silent.

"Guys," Zoey asked, "what's going on?"

"Man, I knew I had a bad feeling about this," Louis whispered.

Everyone went looking for Ellis, but there was no sign of him, or the Witch.

"Ellis!" Zoey yelled. "Where are you?"

As if her yell was answered, the team heard a faint howl. But this was not a victory howl or a happy howl. This sounded like a defeated howl.

"Ellis!" Zoey yelled again, running in the direction of the howl, the others right behind her.

The howls slowly turned into whimpers, which eventually ceased. This only panicked Zoey and the others further. They continued looking, until Louis called out.

"Uh, guys? I think I found him."

The others ran over to Louis and looked in his direction.

There, lying in a heap was Ellis.

The others went closer and saw that Ellis was covered in blood, (whether it was his or the Witch's, they didn't know), was back to normal and was unconscious. The Witch was nowhere to be found.

Zoey was by Ellis' side instantly, and felt his wrist. She found a slow, irregular pulse, but it was there and that was all that mattered. She looked him over for any serious injuries. She removed his hoodie and T-shirt. He was covered in slashes made by the Witch's claws, but only one in particular caught Zoey's eye. It was very long and deep. It started at Ellis' right shoulder blade, travelled around his torso and ended at his left hip. Blood was pouring out of his many wounds, making the puddle around him bigger. Zoey immediately opened her health kit and began to treat him.

Behind her, the rest of the team slowly edged forward to see what was going on. When they saw the extent of Ellis' injuries, they all jumped back in shock. It was unbelievable that Ellis was still alive. Bill kneeled down beside Zoey to help her. When they were done, Zoey put Ellis' shirt and hoodie back on.

"Is he going to be okay?" Rochelle asked behind them.

"I don't know," Bill replied. "We need to clean up his wounds and bandage them up properly at the next safe house, but he's lost a lot of blood. It's really hard to tell right now if he'll be okay or not."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the group. Eventually, Coach spoke up.

"Well, we ain't gonna get anywhere by standin' here. I'll carry the young'un to the next safe house, and we'll take it from there. Agreed?"

Everyone slowly nodded their heads as Coach bent down to pick up Ellis. They continued to travel towards the searchlights.

* * *

><p>Eventually, the team came across a gully. A steep gully.<p>

"Whoa, shit!" Nick yelled as he disappeared down the gully.

"You okay, Nick?" Rochelle yelled down.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just be careful, the gully is pretty steep."

Rochelle went down next, followed by Bill, Francis, Louis and Zoey. Coach eventually managed to find his way down. When they were all safely down, they continued up a small swamp/river.

"Hey, we can get up here," Louis suggested, pointing up a small hill ahead of them.

The group agreed and climbed up the hill. At the top, they saw an entrance way, with the sign, Whispering Oaks Amusement Park above it.

"Whispering Oaks, we made it!" Rochelle exclaimed.

"We got a safe-room up ahead, too," Francis added, pointing towards the all-too familiar red door.

"Don't shoot your guns, y'all," Coach suddenly intervened. "There's an alarmed car there."

The others looked and saw the parked car. They all groaned in annoyance and quickly swapped their guns for their melees (except for Francis; he didn't have a melee). They all made their way through the car park, treading carefully around the alarmed car that was parked there. Unfortunately, the silence would not last long.

A female Common Infected came out of nowhere and lunged at Francis. Without thinking, he pulled out his gun and pulled the trigger. The bullet went through the zombie, whizzed through the air and hit the alarmed car. The alarm blared loudly.

"Dumbass!" Nick yelled. "What part of 'don't shoot your guns' didn't you understand?"

"Hey, she startled me," Francis argued. "And anyway, I wasn't lucky enough to find a melee weapon unlike the rest of you. What else was I supposed to defend myself with?"

"That's enough!" Coach yelled. "I thought we went over this! We don't have time for this bullshit! In case y'all didn't notice, there is a big-ass horde coming right at us!"

"Alright, here's what we're gonna do!" Bill exclaimed. "Coach, you take the boy into the safe house and make sure nothing gets him! Rochelle, Louis and Nick, you guys take the left side of the horde! Zoey, Francis and I will take the right! Coach, join the fight once you got Ellis sorted out! Okay?"

Everyone nodded and immediately sprang into action. Coach carried Ellis into the safe room and laid him on the bed nearby. He took off all of Ellis' equipment, which included his health kit, pipe bomb, adrenaline shot, katana sword and grenade launcher. Once done, Coach grabbed his combat shotgun, went outside and closed the safe room door tightly. Satisfied, he ran towards the horde to help the rest of the group.

* * *

><p>It was only after about half an hour did the horde finally show signs of letting up. Everyone was exhausted and injured badly, but they continued fighting. But even the human body has its limits. Everyone's legs started to feel like jelly and they knew that they were on the verge of collapsing.<p>

"If this horde doesn't let up, I don't think we'll last out much longer," Bill said with exhaustion evident in his voice.

As soon as those words were out of his mouth, a loud thump caught his attention. He looked in the direction of the noise.

"Oh, shit!" he exclaimed.

A Charger had appeared, but had no space to charge anyone, so instead, it ran up to the closest survivor and started hitting him with its large arm. And who was the closest survivor? Nick. The Charger had knocked him out cold. Bill immediately shot a stream of bullets at the Charger, while Coach pulled Nick out of harm's way.

"Coach!" Bill yelled as the Charger let out its dying groan, "Grab Nick and put him in the safe room with Ellis! We can't afford to lose anyone!"

Coach nodded and picked up Nick. He was a bit heavier than Ellis, but Coach was a strong man and managed easily. He ran into the safe room and put Nick on the spare bed. He removed all of Nick's items, just as he had done with Ellis. Just as he was about to run back out the door, he realized that something was off. He turned towards the bed where Ellis was and his eyes went wide with panic.

The bed was empty. There was no sign of Ellis anywhere. Coach saw that Ellis' health kit and adrenaline shot were still next to the bed. The pipe bomb, katana sword and grenade launcher were missing.

"Shit!" Coach exclaimed, turning around, running out the door and shutting it. He ran towards the others.

"Ellis is gone!" he yelled loud enough for the group to hear over the noises of the horde. They looked at him in complete horror.

"Gone?" Zoey yelled. "What do you mean, gone?"

"I went to put Nick in the safe house and Ellis wasn't on the bed where I left 'im!" Coach answered. "His pipe bomb, katana sword and grenade launcher were missin'! His health kit and adrenaline shot were still there!"

"That kid needs to stop pulling crap like this!" Francis yelled angrily.

"We need to get rid of this horde before we can look for Ellis!" Bill yelled. "There's only a handful left!"

As the group turned to finish off the horde, a large blast came from behind them. It was a grenade, and it landed right in the middle of the remaining zombies, blasting them all to pieces. The group looked behind them and their mouths went agape.

Ellis was standing on the roof of the safe house, grenade launcher in hand and the hood of his hoodie pulled over his face. Panting heavily, he climbed down slowly. As soon as he was down, Zoey ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck. Ellis returned the embrace, holding her close.

"Where in hell were ya, boy?" Coach asked with relief evident in his voice.

"I woke up when ya put me in the safe house," Ellis answered, letting go of Zoey to face Coach and the others. "I got up and went out the back door with my grenade launcher, katana and pipe bomb. I climbed up to the roof jus' in time to see Coach takin' Nick into the safe house. I then saw y'all were havin' trouble with the horde, so I used my last grenade to finish it off…And, well, here we are!"

He finished his sentence with a dramatic use of his arms. Everyone chuckled.

"We should go into the safe house," Louis piped up. "We don't want another horde coming at us, now do we?"

"What happened to your positive attitude, Mr. Optimist?" Francis asked, chuckling.

Louis gave a short chuckle in reply.

The group entered the safe house a short while later. Coach went to check on Nick.

"He's still out of it," he observed a moment later.

"And probably will be for a while," Bill added. "We should stay here for the night to heal and rest up."

Everyone nodded and grabbed a first-aid kit. They all were sorted out about fifteen minutes later.

"Alright, now who's going to take first watch tonight?" Bill asked.

"I'll do it," Ellis offered.

Bill and the others looked like they were going to argue, but knowing how stubborn Ellis can be, they dropped the subject.

"Okay, wake one of us up in a couple of hours," Bill said, turning around and heading into one of the bedrooms. There were three bedrooms in this safe house, leaving Zoey and Rochelle to share one room, Francis and Louis another and Coach and Bill in the final one. Nick stayed in the main room, as he was still unconscious and it was best not to move him so much.

Coach soon followed Bill into the bedroom. Francis and Louis reluctantly sidled into their room, obviously not too happy about the sleeping arrangements. A few minutes later, Zoey and Rochelle retreated to their bedroom, leaving Ellis alone (excluding Nick). As he took up his position, he felt pain shoot through his hands.

"Ahh!" he exclaimed softly, staring at his hands and rubbing them nervously. His hands had been doing this ever since he attacked that Witch. He had not been feeling right, either. He would moments when he would forget everything and think on nothing but his instincts. These moments would finish as soon as they started, leaving him a bit disorientated and confused. A moment like that happened while he was attacking the Witch. Another happened while he was on the roof of the safe house. He heaved a big sigh.

"What's happenin' to me…?"

**And there you go! Hope you liked it!  
><strong>

**Before y'all ask, the reason why Ellis is able to take so much damage is because he's a Halfie, which makes him stronger. The Keith story at the top is not in the game. I came up with it myself.**

**R&R please! It'll really make my day!**

**Until next time  
>D-ZombieDragon<br>**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey y'all. Thanks to Sonosublime for the lovely review with all the advice. Really appreciate it :) Thanks to those who also reviewed and/or added this story to their favorites list.  
><strong>**Here's chapter 10! Hope you like it!**_**  
><strong>_

_**It's Hard to Survive  
><strong>__**Chapter 10**_

"_What's happenin' to me…?"_

Bill woke up feeling like he had a full night's sleep. He heard Coach snoring deeply in the bed next to him. Frowning slightly, Bill got up and went into the main room of the safe house. What he saw stopped him in his tracks.

Ellis sat in front of the safe room door, in the same place and position he was the night before. But that wasn't what stopped Bill. Ellis hadn't noticed him yet, so Bill looked over Ellis' features, his mouth slightly agape.

Ellis' hands were red and irritated. Black claws had started to replace his nails. He was rubbing his hands nervously. Even though Bill couldn't see his face, he could guess that Ellis was very nervous about this. Bill coughed loudly.

Ellis whipped his head around. Seeing that it was Bill, he quickly tried to hide his hands. Bill held up his own hand.

"Don't worry, I've already seen them," he said.

"Ya…ya have?" Ellis asked nervously.

"Yes, son," Bill replied. "Come here, let's take a look."

Ellis hesitantly came over and revealed his hands. Bill looked them over.

"This the reason you were up all night?" he asked.

Ellis nodded, wincing as another pain wave shot through his hands. Bill frowned.

"Well, son," he started, "I don't know what this is, but I'm guessing it has something to do with your…uh…condition."

Ellis nodded again.

"W-what 'bout the others?" he asked.

"Well, don't think you can keep this from them," Bill replied. "They're bound to figure out sooner or later."

Before Ellis could respond, a low groan emitted from the bed next to them. They looked towards the source of the noise and saw Nick stirring. They also heard movement coming from the other rooms. Bill faced Ellis again.

"You decide whether to tell them now or later, okay?"

"Kay."

Bill nodded and went back into his room to get ready to leave. Ellis looked over at Nick again to see him sitting up.

"Fuck…what happened?" he asked, rubbing his head.

"Uh, I don't really know, but from wha' the others told me, a Charger knocked ya out," Ellis replied.

"Huh? I don't remember being charged."

"Well, it didn't exactly charge ya. It hit ya really hard with its big arm."

Nick sighed and looked down. At that point, he noticed Ellis' hands for a brief second. His eyes widened.

"Hey, what's up with your hands?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh…nothin'." Ellis replied, quickly hiding his hands.

Nick frowned, not really believing Ellis, but dropped the subject. Last thing he needed was for the kid to freak out.

* * *

><p>Everyone was eventually up and ready. They opened the safe room door and faced the entrance to the park. Ellis noticed a few clown zombies wandering about.<p>

"Clowns? Clowns. Oh, you have got to be kiddin' me," he said.

Everyone chuckled, but stopped abruptly as one of the clowns noticed them and was running towards them. Its shoes squeaked with every step and soon, small groups of Commons were following close behind.

"That squeaking is driving the zombies crazy!" Nick yelled.

"Kill the clown!" Coach added.

As soon as all the zombies were killed at the entrance, the group continued through the park. Eventually they came across a banner saying 'KIDDIELAND.'

"Holy shit, guys. KIDDIELAND!" Ellis yelled happily.

Nick sighed.

"He's like a five-year-old, with guns. And a comprehensive grasp of every swear word in the English language."

"Ha, ha, ha," Ellis responded sarcastically.

Suddenly, the air filled with screams and howls.

"A horde's coming!" Louis yelled.

"Louis, we ain't dumb. We can hear them," Francis responded.

"Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut, Francis. You'll aim better," Bill intervened.

"Hey, now that was uncalled for!"

"Shut it, guys!" Zoey interrupted. "Take your frustrations out on the horde, not each other!"

They nodded and stopped arguing. Zoey pulled out a pipe bomb.

"Fire in the hole!" she yelled, throwing the bomb right towards the horde.

About half of the horde stopped and changed direction. The rest still continued towards the survivors. But they weren't too worried, as they've fought many hordes before. They reloaded their guns and soon, the sound of gunfire filled the air.

After the horde was nothing than a pile of bodies on the ground, everyone sat down for a breather. Well, everyone except Ellis. He was still standing, panting heavily, his gun still right up to his chest. He then sighed and walked into the kitchen building nearby. Nick got up and followed him.

* * *

><p>Nick found the boy in a corner, shaking uncontrollably. He walked to him.<p>

"Ellis?" he asked, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.

Ellis suddenly turned around, his eyes glowing a deep red. Nick jerked his hand away and took a step back. Ellis screeched and jumped, knocking Nick to the ground. Almost like a Hunter, Ellis used his claws and swiped at Nick's chest numerous times. Nick screamed and somehow knocked Ellis off. He got up and tried to run. But he wouldn't get far. He soon found himself on the ground again. But before Ellis could do anymore damage, a loud bang went off. All the blood lust suddenly disappeared from Ellis' eyes. He jumped off of Nick and cowered in the corner he occupied earlier.

"Nick! Are you alright?" Rochelle asked worriedly.

"Does it look like I'm alright?" he replied, gesturing to the bloody mess that was his chest.

"What happened?" Bill asked, but deep down, he already knew.

"Ellis fucking attacked me! That's what happened!"

"Ellis…attacked you?" Coach repeated, looking at the cowering creature in the corner. Now he could definitely see that it was Ellis. Good thing he fired a warning shot instead of shooting a fatal bullet at the offending creature.

Meanwhile, Ellis was looking at his hands. They were soaked with blood. _Nick's _blood.

'What have I done?' he thought.

He looked up and saw Zoey coming towards him.

"No, Zoey," he said. "Don't come near me."

"Ellis-"

Ellis dashed past her and sat at the door, stopping her mid-sentence. He looked at his teammates.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, before running out further into the park.

"Ellis, wait!" Zoey yelled. "Come back!"

But Ellis was gone, his speed now too fast for any of his teammates to catch up.

Zoey broke down, falling to her knees, tears falling from her eyes. Her friends let her have a moment.

* * *

><p>After she cried for that moment, Bill came up and patted her shoulder.<p>

"Come, Zoey," he said. "We have to go. Nick needs patching up and we need to be somewhere safer to do that."

Zoey nodded sadly and got to her feet. The group of now seven continued through the park. What they didn't notice was a pair of yellow eyes watching them from a nearby bush. The voice belonging to those eyes laughed evilly.

"Excellent. Now, with the kid gone, my plan can be put to action. Nothing can stand in my way now…"

**I know it's short, but I wanted it to end there. Don't worry. I'll try to make my chapters longer :)  
><strong>

**Extra: I know it's probably easy, but I want to see if y'all can guess who's eyes were watching the survivors...**

**I'm going to ask this question again, as no-one answered it a couple of chapters ago: Who should be Rochelle's boyfriend? Nick, Francis or Louis? (I've added Louis now) Please leave answers in reviews.**

**Please R&R!**

**Until next time**  
><strong>D-ZombieDragon<strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey y'all! Finally got round to updating this! Thanks to all those who reviewed, faved, and/or alerted****!**

**So far, these are the votes for who is to be Rochelle's boyfriend:  
><strong>

**Nick - 1 Francis - 2 Louis - 0**

**Thanks to those who voted. I'm still taking votes until I decide to put the boyfriend in. I'll let y'all know when I've decided :)**

**Anyways, hope you enjoy!**_**  
><strong>_

_**It's Hard To Survive  
><strong>__**Chapter 11**_

"_Nothing can stand in my way now…"_

As soon as Ellis was out of sight, the Alpha Hunter made his move. Signaling the other eight Hunters behind him, they ambushed the now seven Survivors. They made their screech and lunged.

The ambush took the Survivors by complete surprise. They were still in shock about what happened with Ellis. The Hunters had them overpowered in seconds, pinning them to the ground by standing on their backs. The Alpha Hunter stepped forward, a sinister smile on his face.

"You!" Zoey exclaimed.

"Who else did you expect?" the Alpha asked in clear English.

"You can talk?" Louis asked bitterly.

"Of course I can, dimwit!" the Alpha snapped.

"How?" Louis exclaimed.

"Remembered it," the Alpha replied. "When I Turned, that was one of the few things I remembered. Now shut it!"

Louis fell silent.

"Now you," the Alpha said to Zoey, "hand over your jacket."

"Why?" she asked angrily.

The Alpha growled at the Hunter pinning Zoey. The Hunter growled back and tightened his grip painfully on Zoey.

"Painful?" the Alpha asked in an evil tone. "I can make it stop if you just hand over your jacket."

"What do you want with it, anyway?" Zoey asked.

"How about I put it this way? If you want your freak of a boyfriend and your friends here to remain unharmed, then I suggest you stop asking questions and co-operate."

Zoey's eyes went wide. Slowly, she hung her head as the Hunter on top of her removed her jacket.

"Good. Now, all of you better not try anything, or your friend will…cease to exist," he threatened.

The Survivors stayed silent.

The Alpha growled at the smaller Hunters. They jumped off the Survivors and followed their leader deep into the park, vanishing from sight.

As the Survivors stood up and picked up all of their supplies, they talked about what had just happened.

"Why do you think he wanted Zoey's jacket?" Francis asked.

"I don't know, but if y'all ask me, it's not good," Coach replied.

"Do you think it's got something to do with Ellis?" Louis asked.

"Why else did he want Zoey's jacket?" Rochelle answered.

"I agree with Ro, but the question is WHY?" Nick pointed out.

"We gotta find him!" Zoey exclaimed. "He could be in real danger!"

Bill put a hand on her shoulder.

"Zoey, you saw what he did to Nick. What if he does it again? He's too dangerous," he said.

"But he stopped himself, Bill," Zoey argued.

"No, Coach's warning shot stopped him."

"It still stopped him, didn't it?"

Coach stepped in between them to stop the fight.

"C'mon, y'all," he said. "We don't have time for this shit. If we run into Ellis again, then we will help him. But he could be on the other side of the park by now, judging his speed."

Zoey and Bill fell silent. The whole group fell silent as they continued deeper into the park.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Ellis was running through the park, trying to get as far away from his friends as possible. He didn't want to hurt them, to have their blood on his hands. He didn't even know what came over him with Nick. It's like he let his instincts get the better of him.<p>

He was about to carry on running, when he heard movement behind him.

Sniffing the air and recognizing the scent, he swung around and growled menacingly. There stood the Alpha Hunter, his posse right behind him.

"_You!" _Ellis growled, running for the Alpha.

The Alpha smirked and pulled out a very familiar item.

Zoey's jacket.

Ellis stopped in his tracks. It was definitely his girlfriend's jacket. He'd recognize it anywhere. It also had her scent.

"_Where did ya get tha'?" _Ellis asked fearfully.

"_Oh, this?" _the Alpha smirked again, talking in the Infected tongue. _"Ran into your friends and gave them…let's say, quite a surprise."_

Immediately, Ellis feared for the worst. The Alpha sensed his fear and smiled evilly. His plan was working.

"_They're not dead, kid," _he growled. "_Not yet, anyway. As soon as you're out of the way, our plans to get rid of them will be much easier, especially our plans for your girlfriend."_

"_Y'all better leave Zoey and my friends outta this and back off!" _Ellis threatened.

"_Oh, so scary," _the Alpha growled sarcastically. _"No friends around to help you this time, boy. You could make our job a bit easier and give in to us."_

"_Never!" _Ellis snarled.

The Alpha chuckled.

"_Ok, then. Boys, you know what to do," _he told the Hunters behind him.

The Hunters growled and pounced on Ellis. Ellis bit, scratched and screeched, but the Hunters were too powerful. The Alpha laughed from the sidelines.

The laughing made Ellis angry to the core. He had never felt a pure hatred or anger against anyone before. Finally, when he couldn't take the laughter any longer, he gave a loud howl of anger and with great strength, pushed the eight Omega Hunters right off of him.

All the Hunters gave a yelp of surprise, including the Alpha. But Ellis wasn't done yet. He pounced onto the nearest Hunter and mimicked their killing mode. Ellis wanted these Hunters to experience their own killing method. This idea faded away, though, when the boy decided to use his own Howler method instead. Lifting up his bloodied clawed hand, he ripped into the Hunter's face. Screeching in pain, the Hunter pushed Ellis off, and stood up. But before the Hunter could fully recover, Ellis lunged.

After killing the first Hunter, Ellis moved on to the second, then the third, then the fourth. Finally, all eight Omega Hunters were dead on the ground.

Ellis turned to face the Alpha Hunter, but all he was met with was thin air. The Alpha had escaped, leaving Zoey's jacket on the ground.

"_Damn it!" _Ellis growled.

Even though he was angered by the fact that the Alpha had escaped, he couldn't help but realize something. That murderous haze he had felt with both Nick and the Hunters was gone.

'So, anger must be how I release my full power,' Ellis thought. 'And if I take it out on the zombies more, maybe my instincts will stop takin' over.'

Suddenly, Ellis heard loud merry-go-round music coming from a section of the park.

"Tha' can only mean one thing," Ellis whispered, this time in English. He picked up Zoey's jacket and ran towards the noises of the music, gunshots and Infected.

**There's chapter 11!** **Now, I need to ask something else for y'all to do other than the voting for Rochelle's boyfriend. I need a name for the Alpha Hunter. Just send in the names you think would best suit him, then I'll decide which name I like best :)**

**Hope y'all enjoyed! :D**

**Until next time**  
><strong>D-ZombieDragon<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey, y'all! I know it's been a while, but I've been really busy lately, especially now that exams have started :P**

**Just so y'all know, this is a filler chapter, that involves the Alpha Hunter and his plan. Oh, and the Alpha has a name: Richard (homage to several powerful/ruthless kings of England). Thanks to stareyed in LA for all your name ideas :D And thanks to all those who reviewed, faved, and/or alerted!  
><strong>

**Here's the latest score of votes for Rochelle's boyfriend:**

**Nick - 2 Francis - 2 Louis - 0**

**Please carry on voting, I'm gonna need to have a boyfriend for Rochelle soon :)  
><strong>

_**It's Hard To Survive  
><strong>__**Chapter 12**_

"_Tha' can only mean one thing…"_

The Alpha Hunter was furious. Not only did he lose sight of the Howler, his hunting pack ran off when the sounds from one of the rides spooked them. That left him with no choice but to run. He knew that he stood almost no chance against the Howler alone. He had to run all the way back the way he came, back to the entrance to Kiddieland. Now he was looking for his disbanded hunting pack. He stopped just outside the entrance when he heard growling.

"Richard?" the growling voice asked.

The Alpha growled 'yes' in response and the figure emerged from the bushes. The Alpha's real name was Richard, but a lot of other Infected knew him by the name El Diablo (1). He gave himself the name, not only because of the meaning, but also because of the fact that he was Mexican (2). Not everyone knew that, though, mostly because he didn't look Mexican.

He looked at the figure before him and growled.

"Armand (3)! Where did you guys disappear to?"

Armand was Richard's eldest son.

"Sorry, Papi (4)," Armand replied. "Everyone got spooked by the sudden noise and ran. They were probably too distracted by the Howler and any sudden noise or threat would've spooked them."

Richard hated it when his son spoke logically. It made him almost always right.

"Well, do you know where they are?" he asked.

"Well, no, but if I didn't know any better, I'd say that they are probably hiding from you," Armand replied. "Because they know as much as the rest of the pack knows that you will kick their asses once you find them."

Richard growled, knowing that this was true. He had quite the temper. He huffed impatiently.

"Well, we'd better go find them."

Armand nodded. He nodded his head towards a small building inside Kiddieland.

"I heard a lot of shuffling inside that building. Maybe we'll find some of the hombres (5) in there," he said.

Richard nodded and walked towards the building. When he entered it, he sniffed the area. He growled.

"Okay, Owen, I know you're in there."

When no answer came, Richard growled louder.

"Come out, hombre!"

Slowly, a figure appeared in the darkness. Richard huffed in annoyance.

"What took you?" he asked.

"S-sorry, Richard," Owen shakily replied. "I didn't mean to run off, the noise was s-sudden."

"You're a Hunter!" Richard screeched. "A Hunter isn't supposed to be scared! ¡Dios mío (6)! "

Owen whimpered and looked down at the floor. He always was the most scared Hunter out of all of them.

"Why did the others run?" Richard asked.

Owen looked up and shrugged.

"I guess they saw me running, and thought it was a retreat."

"Maldito (7)…" Richard sighed, face palming. "Do you know where they are?"

"N-no," Owen hesitantly replied, a bit scared of Richard's tone.

"Mierda (8)!" Richard growled. "Well, we'd better go look for them, or else I'll probably kill someone!"

Owen cowered a bit, hoping that someone wouldn't be him. He looked up when Richard spoke again.

"I swear, once I get that Howler, everything will be perfecto (9)."

Armand looked up.

"But Papi, why are we doing this?" he asked. "Can't we just leave them be?"

Richard turned to him.

"No, we can't just leave them be," he growled. "I need the Howler; he's valuable."

"Can't we just find another Howler?" Armand asked.

"No, we can't. There are no other Alpha Howlers."

"We don't know that!"

"Hijo (10), you know as well as I do that there is only one Alpha of each kind!"

"How do you know he's an Alpha?"

Richard huffed in annoyance and frustration.

"Oh, cielos que me ayude (11)," he mumbled. He looked back at his son. "He's much bigger, stronger and faster than any other Howler I've seen, even though they're rare. Also, I can sense that he's an Alpha."

"Does he know that he's an Alpha?" Armand asked.

"Considering the way he reacted when he saw us, and also the fact that he's only recently Turned, I don't think so," Richard replied.

"Why are you only after the Alphas?" Armand asked. "We've already taken care of the others, two of which I think were a real waste of time. Why do we have to do this?"

"One, if you don't remember, we haven't taken care of all of them. There's still the Howler and the Tank, and two, I want to show my goody-two-shoes hermano (12) to know that I'm the leader here," Richard replied.

"Isn't he a Howler, too?" Armand asked.

"Yes, that's part of the reason why I want to gain control of all the Infected, especially the Howlers. And the only way to do that is to kill all the Alphas."

"Then why don't you just kill that kid who happens to be the Alpha, or his friends? You sure are taking your sweet time for someone who wants control over everything."

His father gave him a sly look.

"That's because I don't want to kill him, or his friends," he said. "Not yet, anyways. I want to try and get him to step down before I have no choice but to kill him. His friends, I'm just using them to get him to listen to me."

"But why? You've never had any mercy for the others," Armand pointed out.

"It isn't mercy!" Richard growled. "I want to see if I can have some sort of control over him! Remember when he said he took down a Tank by himself?"

"Yes..." Armand said uneasily.

"Well, when he said that, I thought of something," Richard continued. "You know when we tried to defeat the Alpha Tank, and we ended up losing a lot of pack members?"

Armand nodded.

"I just thought that we needed more strength, more power. But the Howler will make it all easier."

"How?"

"By defeating that damned Tank for us!"

Before Armand could ask anything more, a voice startled the two of them.

"Uh, Richard, don't you want to look for the others?"

They had completely forgotten that Owen was there. Richard turned to him.

"Actually, I've got a job for you, Owen," he said. "I want you to make sure that the Howler pack and that kid never cross paths. No doubt they'll tell him everything once they see who he really is."

"Okay, I will," Owen replied. But before he took off, Richard stopped him.

"On second thought, take Armand with you," he said. "You'll need a leader to make sure you head in the right direction without getting lost and scared."

Owen instantly felt ashamed that he had to be supervised all the time. He wished that he wasn't such a scardy-Hunter; then maybe he'll finally be allowed to do things on his own for once. Nonetheless, he was who he was, and he would just have to live with it.

"Yes, sir," he said.

"Good, now go!" Richard exclaimed to his son and Owen. They nodded and took off.

Richard walked out and looked up at the sky, needing to think before he searched for the rest of his hunting pack. Only one thought crossed his mind:

'I'm gonna get you, niño (13), if it's the last thing I do…'

**(1) El Diablo – The devil**

**(2) I know I haven't mentioned him being Mexican until now, but to be honest, I only came up with it shortly after I posted the 11th chapter.**

**(3) Armand – of the army**

**(4) Papi – father**

**(5) Hombres – men; Hombre – man**

**(6) ¡Dios mío – Oh, my God!**

**(7) Maldito – damn**

**(8) Mierda – shit**

**(9) Perfecto – perfect**

**(10) Hijo – son**

**(11) Oh cielos que me ayude – oh, heaven help me**

**(12) Hermano – brother**

**(13) Niño - kid**

**Well, there's the 12th chapter! Remember, this was just a filler, so that y'all could see what was going on with the Alpha. Please forgive me if this was a stupid chapter, I just wanted to get something out :)**

**Remember to vote for who's to be Rochelle's boyfriend!**

**Until next time  
>D-ZombieDragon<br>**


	13. Chapter 13

**Wow, this is probably the fastest update I've done. But anyway, I've decided on who Rochelle's boyfriend gonna be.**

**The final score was:**

**Nick - 3 Francis - 2 Louis - 1**

**Yeah, it's Nick! Thanks to all those who voted, and reviewed!**

_**It's Hard To Survive  
><strong>**Chapter 13**_

_'I'm gonna get you, niño, if it's the last thing I do…'_

Ellis arrived at the top of the merry-go-round, seeing his team fighting for the safe-room in the Tunnel of Love.

'Tunnel of Love?' Ellis thought before smirking. 'Oh, boy, Nick will be happy.'

"Look, there's a safe-room in the Tunnel of Love!" he heard Coach yell while Rochelle switched off the alarm.

Ellis chuckled at Nick's reaction.

"Tunnel of Love? Seriously?" the conman yelled.

"I'm with Suit on this one," Francis suddenly piped up. "Seriously? A safe house in the Tunnel of Love?"

"Well, if you two don't like it, you're welcome to stay out here," Bill responded. "I'm sure the zombies would be very welcoming to you."

Nick and Francis exchanged looks before dashing towards the safe house. Bill chuckled.

"Gets them every time," he mumbled.

"Get yer ass in the Tunnel of Love!" Coach yelled.

Bill, Zoey, Rochelle and Louis immediately ran for the open safe house.

Ellis heard someone closing and bolting the door. He jumped down from the top of the merry-go-round and headed towards the red door. He considered scratching the door to get in, but decided against it. It was best if he wasn't around them until he learned how to control himself better. Instead, he went around the building until he found another way in. He then went to the other safe room door and rested outside. Just because he wasn't in there with them didn't mean that he couldn't be near them to make sure they were safe. He looked up when he heard his friends talking.

"We can't stay here," he heard Bill say. "We gotta find a safe house that's at least got some food and sleeping bags."

"Bill's right, maybe we'll find one deeper in the Tunnel of Love," Louis agreed.

Ellis heard Nick groan.

"Why couldn't I have been in Vegas when the Infection hit? Or even Atlantic City? Instead, I'm trapped in some goddamn hillbilly Tunnel of Love. I mean, did you guys see the sign out front? 'Cousins Only Day' today."

Everyone, including Ellis, couldn't help but burst out laughing at this. Unfortunately, the Halfie's laughter attracted a few Infected, which he took out with a few swipes of his claws. He heard his friends moving around a lot in the safe house, preparing to leave. Ellis decided to make the journey a little bit easier for them, and ran ahead, taking out the Infected as he went.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, the other Survivors wondered why there were no Infected around when they left the safe house.<p>

"These bodies don't have bullet holes," Rochelle stated.

"No, but they are covered in claw marks," Bill added.

Zoey's eyes widened.

"You don't think that Ellis is helping us, do you?" she asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was Overalls," Nick replied.

"Yeah, the boy would never really leave us," Coach agreed.

Zoey smiled for a moment, but the smile disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Of course, she was happy that Ellis was still watching out for them, but she wished that he was there with her and the rest of the team.

"Maybe following the bodies will lead us out of here," she said.

"Yeah, probably," Rochelle agreed.

The others nodded.

"Let's get a move on," Bill stated, leading the way.

The team went deeper into the Tunnel of Love, taking out stray Infected as they went.

"Let's go through that vent," Coach suggested, pointing to an almost hidden vent behind one of the Cupid signs. "Maybe we can get outta here quicker."

The others agreed and crawled through the vent. Nick was the first one out and exited the room the vent led them to. He smirked when he saw what was in front of him.

"Into the swan maintenance room of love!" he exclaimed, running into the maintenance room.

The others followed him. Francis spotted a katana sword on the ground.

"Katana sword of love here!" he yelled, picking up the sword.

Bill shook his head.

"I'm surrounded by kids," he mumbled under his breath.

Coach heard him.

"Now ya know how I sometimes feel," he whispered.

Bill chuckled under his breath.

"C'mon, slowpokes!" Francis yelled, poking his head out from a room upstairs.

Bill and Coach quickly caught up with the others next to a hole in the ground.

"Through that blasted out hole of love!" Louis exclaimed, smirking.

Bill and Coach groaned as they all jumped down. As soon as they did, two Hunters, a Smoker and a Charger ambushed them!

The Charger charged, grabbing Coach and pounding him into the wall. The Smoker grabbed Louis and pulled him away from the others. One Hunter pounced on Nick, while the other pounced on Zoey. Francis ran to help Louis, Bill killed the Charger, while Rochelle quickly took care of the Hunters. Eventually, silence fell over the team.

"What the hell was that?" Nick exclaimed while Rochelle patched him up.

"They're getting smarter," Bill said, keeping an eye out for any more Specials while the others healed up.

"Smarter? How the hell can they get smarter?" Francis asked while he healed Zoey.

Bill shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know," he mumbled. "But what I do know, it ain't good news."

"I second tha'," Coach agreed as he finished patching himself up. Louis finished shortly afterwards.

As Rochelle finished patching up Nick, the conman smiled at her.

"Thanks, sweetheart," he said, giving her a small peck on the cheek.

Francis saw this and expected the reporter to slap Nick across the face. But instead, she blushed a deep red and giggled softly, giving the ex-gambler a small peck back. Jealousy filled his being as he scowled and turned away. He would have a talk with Nick later, when Rochelle wasn't around.

"This is the LONGEST Tunnel of Love I've ever seen!" Nick exclaimed as they went further.

"I don' remember the Tunnel of Love bein' this long," Coach commented. "I musta had somethin' else on my mind."

"I can probably guess what," Zoey said, chuckling.

"Wait, I think that's the exit over there," Louis said, pointing ahead.

"Yeah, I can feel a breeze, fresh air," Nick agreed.

"Hmm, shit, first time I ever couldn't wait to get outta the Tunnel of Love," Coach added.

"Do you two have a comment for everything?" Bill asked.

"No, it's mostly Nick," Coach replied.

"Gee, thanks, Coach," Nick responded sarcastically.

Bill shook his head as he led the team out of the Tunnel of Love. The sound of helicopter blades filled the air.

"It's a helicopter!" Rochelle exclaimed, pointing to the flying chopper in the sky.

"Hey, down here!" Francis yelled, waving his arms in the air.

"Hey, get back here!" Nick yelled.

The helicopter pilot didn't seem to notice them, for the vehicle carried on flying. The team watched it until it was out of sight.

"Oh, great," Francis said. "Now what?"

"We follow it, wha' else?" Coach replied.

Francis sighed irritably as the team carried on.

"Hey, isn't that a roller coaster?" Louis asked.

"Yep, tha' there is The Screamin' Oak," Coach said proudly. "Best ride in all of Whisperin' Oaks. I loved it as a kid."

"Well, you're about to love it again, 'cause it looks like the only way over to the safe house is on the coaster's track," Bill said.

"Runnin' the Screamin' Oak…now, don' tha' beat all," Coach mumbled.

"Yeah, and I'm betting that there's an alarm on this thing," Nick pointed out.

"Well, then we'll just need to run like hell, right Zoey?" Louis asked, smiling.

"Yeah, run like hell," she agreed, chuckling.

Nick walked up to the panel and hit the switch.

"I'm starting it!" he yelled as the loud cry of the horde filled the air.

As soon as the gate opened, the group ran onto the tracks to switch off the alarm. Nick was in front, being one of the fastest. When he arrived in the dark tunnel, he looked back and saw the others being completely bombarded by the horde. Francis managed to break through and soon joined Nick. They knew that waiting for the others wasn't going to help, so they ran ahead to switch off the alarm. But as soon as they exited the tunnel, the loud alarm bell ceased to make noise, and the horde soon started to diminish. The others eventually managed to break through the horde and catch up to Nick and Francis, who were standing next to the control panel.

"Well done, boys," Rochelle stated.

"Yeah, never thought we would manage to switch off that alarm," Zoey added.

"But, guys…" Nick started.

"…we never switched it off," Francis finished.

The group all exchanged looks to each other. Zoey's eyes wandered towards the safe house just in time to see a figure climb onto the roof and disappear from sight. She gasped. She would know that figure anywhere. The group looked at her.

"What is it, Zoey?" Bill asked.

"Ellis," Zoey replied. "He was the one that turned off the alarm…"

And there we go, chapter 13! I hope y'all enjoyed it!

**Yeah, we're almost at the end of Dark Carnival, then we'll be onto Swamp Fever.**

**Hey, now I got a small favour to ask. Can y'all please check out my YouTube videos? You don't have to if you don't want to, but I could use some comments on those. Thanks to Burnz who's already commented, I really appreciate it. To find me, just look for DZombieDragon. Scroll down until you find two videos that have that name. I would really appreciate it if y'all could just have a look :)**

**Please R&R!**

**Until next time**  
><strong>D-ZombieDragon<strong>


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey y'all! Here's chapter 14! Hope y'all enjoy it!**

**Also, I've decided that from now on, I'm gonna reply to my reviews in my chapters. I think it'll make replying easier, especially to those who don't have accounts.**

_**It's Hard To Survive  
><strong>__**Chapter 14**_

"_Ellis," Zoey replied. "He was the one that turned off the alarm…"_

Ellis climbed over the safe house to the other side. He could get used to this routine. Wait until his friends are getting ready to leave, run ahead, take out most of the zombies, help them with any alarms, and finally resting outside of the next safe house.

But while he was waiting for his team to rest up enough to leave, he saw something that immediately broke his new routine.

"Oh, hell yes!" he said, smiling, seeing the Mustachio Test Your Strength hammer game. He ran over to it, but realized that there wasn't a hammer next to it. Looking around, he spotted a baseball bat on the ground. He picked it up.

"Guess it'll have to do," he mumbled. But before he could return to the game, something else caught his eye. He smiled.

"Even though I'll probably not need it, I'll take this," he mumbled, picking up an adrenaline shot. "Maybe it'll make me strong enough to break the damn machine!"

Quickly turning back to normal, Ellis took the baseball bat and the adrenaline, and walked back to the game. After opening the adrenaline and plunging the needle into his leg, he lifted the baseball bat high, before bringing it down hard onto the target. The little rectangle object that acted as an arrow to point out your strength shot right up to the bell, ringing it before it came off completely!

"Mustachio…" the machine warbled out once more before it broke for good.

"Oh, hell yes!" Ellis whooped. "Take that, Mustachio!"

Suddenly, a loud cry filled the air, interrupting the Halfie's little victory party.

"Oh, shit!" he exclaimed, realizing what he had done. Throwing down his baseball bat, Ellis immediately turned back into a Howler and took a protective stance in front of the safe room nearby. The horde appeared quickly and loudly. Ellis growled before jumping head first into the horde, teeth and claws tearing at the zombies as he went.

The noise was so loud, that it caused Ellis' team to leave the safe house in order to see what was going on. When they saw the horde, they immediately pulled out their weapons and began to thin out the horde's numbers. When the zombies ceased to bombard them, the team began to wonder why there was horde before they had even left the safe house.

They pondered this until Nick found something. He called out to the others, who quickly ran over.

What Nick had found was a discarded adrenaline needle with the cap missing. Nearby, the team found a discarded baseball bat. Both looked like they'd been used very recently. Another clue was the broken Mustachio strength machine. Nick shook his head.

"Seriously, is the kid trying to get himself killed?" he exclaimed.

Coach shook his head in disagreement.

"Now, Nick, ya know wha' Ellis is like," he pointed out. "He might've let his childish antics get the better of him. He might be a Halfie now, but his personality hasn' completely changed."

"He's right, Nick," Rochelle added, siding with Coach. "I mean, remember how he reacted when he saw Kiddieland?"

Nick snickered.

"Yeah, I remember," he replied.

"Well, whatever he was doing, he ain't here now," Bill pointed out. "It looks like he disappeared with the Infected."

"I thought saw a glimpse of him in the horde," Zoey piped up. "But it was dark, and the horde was huge, so my eyes could've been playing tricks on me."

"And also, when you miss someone, you may start seeing them wherever you go," Louis added.

Zoey shot him a look, but knew this was true. She really did miss having Ellis beside her.

Bill coughed loudly, getting everyone's attention.

"There's a back door through the bumper cars," he said, pointing towards the ride. "Let's go!"

The Survivors bypassed the bumper cars and went out the door on the other side. Once outside, Coach spotted the stadium and pointed towards it.

"Let's get inside the stadium," he said. "I have an idea."

With that, the group continued towards the stadium. Francis spotted a nearby carnival mallet game and smirked.

"Hey, Suit," he said, getting Nick's attention. "I dare ya to turn that thing on."

Nick scoffed.

"Like I would be stupid enough to do something that would more than likely attract an unnecessary horde!" he exclaimed.

"Louis?" Francis asked.

"Forget it, Francis, even I know that's stupid," Louis replied.

"Aw, you two are no fun!" he exclaimed. "I bet Motor Mouth would do it!"

"Do you come up with nicknames for everybody, Francis?" Nick asked, knowing that the biker was referring to Ellis.

"Got a problem?" Francis asked, dare forgotten.

"Maybe I do!" Nick exclaimed.

"Be happy that I stopped calling you Colonel Sanders!"

"How would you like it if I started calling you a greasy vest-wearing monkey every time I talked to you? Or Greasy Pig?"

"That's it, enough you two!" Coach and Bill exclaimed in unison.

The conman and the biker, however, kept giving each other a stare-down. Rochelle walked up to Nick and put a hand on his shoulder.

"C'mon, Nick," she said. "You and Francis have had your fun insulting each other. Now would you please calm down?"

Nick looked at the reporter, breaking the stare-down with Francis, and nodded.

Rochelle smiled as the group walked towards the barns. Before Nick could join them, Francis stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"Alright, Suit, how come you and Rochelle are acting so close?"

Nick shook his arm out of the biker's grip and glared.

"That's 'cause it's not acting," he replied with a small smirk.

"Since when did you two get all lovey-dovey?" Francis asked.

"Uh, since she became my girlfriend and I became her boyfriend?" Nick replied.

"That's not what I meant, Suit!"

"Last time I checked, you have no right to nose into my personal life. You did that enough when we were teenagers."

"I didn't-"

"Don't lie to yourself, Francis, you know you did."

"That's not the point, why are you and Rochelle so goddamn close?"

"Somebody's jealous…"

"I'm not!"

"Yeah, I've heard that one before."

"You two wanna quit bitching and start moving?" a voice interrupted.

Nick and Francis looked up to see Bill watching them, his arms folded over his chest. He didn't look happy. The two quickly gave each other another stare-down. Bill sighed, shaking his head.

"Sometime before I die of old age, people," he said irritably.

Nick and Francis stopped their stare-down, and ran after the others in the barns, Bill right behind them.

* * *

><p>The rest of the group was on the roofs of the barns when the three caught up.<p>

"I'm gettin' too old for this shit," Coach panted as the group climbed across the roofs. "There better be somethin' good in the stadium."

"Coach, maybe if you ate less chocolate, you wouldn't be so old for this shit," Nick responded with a smirk. "Bill's a lot older than you, so I wouldn't complain."

"I've heard enough from your mouth, Nicolas," Coach shot back.

Nick was about to retaliate, but a look from Rochelle shut him up. They had reached a gate, and the only way over was to open it, which would cause a lot of noise. Nick nodded to Rochelle and then to Coach; now was no time for a fight.

"Alright, I'll stay down here and hit the button," Louis said. "The rest of you go up there and I'll join you in a bit."

He pointed to some construction with a ladder. On it was ammo and a First Aid Kit. Everyone (except Louis) climbed up and stocked up on ammo. Rochelle took the First Aid. Louis motioned for everyone to get ready for a fight.

"I'm opening it!" he exclaimed, quickly pushing the button and climbing up to join the others. They all fought off Infected until the gate fully opened.

"Gate's open!" Nick yelled over the noise.

"Let's go!" Rochelle yelled.

They ran for the safe house, shooting Infected that got in their way.

"They're not gonna stop!" Bill yelled. "Get out your melees!"

"Hey, I still don't have one!" Francis yelled while everyone else got their melees out.

"Not my fault you prefer a pistol!" Bill responded. "Just use your shotgun!"

Francis complied irritably, wishing he had grabbed a melee when he had the chance.

"Boomer and two Hunters ahead!" Zoey yelled.

"Francis, take out the Boomer!" Louis yelled to the biker as he and Zoey took out the Hunters.

As soon as those words were out of the manager's mouth, the Boomer exploded.

"That was fast!" Louis observed.

"That wasn't me, man!" Francis replied.

"Well, then, who was it?" Louis asked.

Before anyone could reply, the Common Infected in front of them froze and turned their heads towards where the Boomer was. Suddenly, they ran towards the spot, leaving a clear path for the Survivors. An inhumane screech filled the air, and a puke-covered Infected pounced from the surrounding Commons and landed on the railing above, balancing on it. In all the chaos, the hood of the Infected's hoodie fell away from his face.

"Ellis!" Zoey yelled, recognizing the Halfie.

The Howler turned his head to them while the Commons tried to reach him on the railing. His eyes widened when he saw them standing still and not running for the safe house.

"Don' jus' stand there, y'all!" he screeched. "Run for the safe house while the zombies are distracted!"

Zoey looked at the group, not wanting to leave her boyfriend out with the Infected. Coach saw her look and turned to where Ellis was standing.

"We ain't leavin' ya this time, boy!" he yelled, slaughtering the surrounding Infected with his axe.

Zoey smiled her thanks at Coach and started helping to get rid of the Infected. The others realized what they were doing and ran over to help. Nick managed to get through, and grabbed Ellis by his shirt collar, pulling him up.

"C'mon, kid!" the conman yelled, pushing Ellis towards the safe house. The others heard the yell, and turned to run for the safe house.

While pulling the reluctant Ellis, Nick covered the team from the back as the horde set their sights back on them. As soon as the conman pulled the mechanic into the safe house, Bill slammed the door shut and put the bar across it, blocking the horde from entering.

After a short breather, the group turned their attention to Ellis, who was looking through a gap in a boarded up window, crouched as if ready to pounce. Zoey started to walk up to him, but Bill stopped her.

"Don't, Zoey," he advised. "We don't know what the boy's been through."

"I'll do it," Coach said, walking up to the growling mechanic. He touched Ellis' shoulder, causing the boy to spin around and back into the wall. When he realized who it was, he calmed down.

"Ellis, what's the matter?" Coach asked. "Ya look like shit."

Ellis turned back to normal. In the light, the others saw how much like shit he really was. He put a clawed hand into his hoodie, and pulled out a red jacket.

"My jacket…" Zoey whispered in surprise.

"Did you run into that crazy Hunter, Overalls?" Nick asked.

"More or less," Ellis replied. "I managed to kill a lot of his pack members, but a few of 'em, including tha' Alpha, managed to get away."

"But are you okay, son?" Bill asked. "Any serious injuries?"

"Naw, jus' a bit shook up is all," Ellis replied with a shrug.

"I'll check him over, guys," Zoey told the group. "Just to be on the safe side."

Bill nodded and went into one of the nearby rooms to check it for Infected. Coach followed to help.

"Francis, why don't you come with me and check upstairs for Infected?" Louis suggested.

"What? I just checked up there, and there is no Infected!" Francis exclaimed.

"Well, I thought I heard something, so let's check it again," Louis responded, giving Francis a slight push towards the stairs. Francis grumbled and climbed them, Louis close behind.

Rochelle chuckled, knowing why Louis really led Francis away from the room; to give Ellis and Zoey some privacy. She decided to do the same.

"C'mon, Nick, let's go and give them some privacy," she murmured into the conman's ear.

"Aw, I really don't want to leave right now," he chuckled jokingly.

Rochelle shoved him playfully. Nick chuckled again, but followed her out of the room, leaving Ellis and Zoey alone. Zoey sat Ellis down on the nearby bed and started dabbing his cuts with a wet cloth.

* * *

><p>When Zoey finished dabbing Ellis' cuts, the Halfie gave her the red jacket. She looked at him before taking the jacket and putting it on. After she did so, Ellis took her into his arms and hugged her tightly. Zoey was sure that he was crying. She pulled away, and her thoughts were confirmed.<p>

"Ellis?" she asked.

Ellis cut her off with a kiss.

"Please," he said.

Zoey gave in and let Ellis hold her. They lay down on the bed and Zoey snuggled into his arms. To be honest, Zoey wanted him to hold her. But she wanted to find out what was wrong first. She pulled away again, much to Ellis' disappointment.

"Ellis, please tell me what's wrong," she asked.

Ellis sighed, closing his eyes to try and hold back his tears. But they kept coming. He opened his eyes again to look at his girlfriend.

"I thought he killed y'all," he said. "Or at least hurt y'all."

Zoey immediately knew he was referring to the Alpha Hunter.

"Did he tell you that?" she asked.

"He implied it," Ellis replied sadly. "I only believed y'all were alive when I saw y'all goin' into the Tunnel of Love."

Zoey nodded, knowing how devastated Ellis must've felt. She looked into his eyes and gave him a kiss.

"Well, we're here and alright," she assured him. "He only shook us a bit, that's all."

Ellis nodded and held her close once more. Zoey sighed in content. But then a thought struck her.

"Ellis, please promise me something," she said.

"What, darlin'?" he asked.

"Please don't leave us again," she asked.

"But Zoey, I left for a reason," Ellis argued. "And what if the reason shows up again?"

"What was the reason?"

"Ya know."

"I want to hear it from you."

Ellis sighed.

"I'll tell y'all in the morning, okay? I'm really tired, and I don't really wanna repeat it to the others."

Zoey nodded and snuggled more into his arms. Ellis sighed inwardly, hugging her tighter.

'I hope tha' the reason doesn' decide to show up again,' he thought. 'I really don' wanna have to leave them again…'

**I hope y'all enjoyed that! Finale next chapter, then we're onto Swamp Fever!**

**Also, I know the safe house before the Dark Carnival finale doesn't have all the things I mentioned, but I changed it so that this chapter could work.  
><strong>

**R&R please!**

**Until next time  
>D-ZombieDragon<strong>


	15. Chapter 15

__**Hey y'all! Here's chapter 15! Hope y'all enjoy it! Thanks to all those who reviewed, alerted and/or faved!  
><strong>

**So, reviews!**

**so i herd u liek ellis: Thanks, I will :D**

**Alex: For the updating thing, I update when I have the inspiration to write a chapter. Also, I have school and all that, so, updates could take days, weeks, sometimes months. I update as often as I can, whether this story, or my other ones. There might be a sequel, I haven't gotten that far yet, it depends whether I want to put everything in one story, or end it in a cliffhanger and start a sequel. We'll see what happens, though. As for the romance thing between Ellis and Zoey, I'm not that good at writing romantic scenes, I'm more the angsty and tradgic writer. Hence the reason why there are only a few not-so-detailed kissing scenes now and again. As for Nick and Rochelle, they will get some romance soon. I'm glad you love the Howler Ellis thing :D**

**Burnzs: Yeah, sorry for the confusion there lol. The Hunter did imply hurting them, but thanks for pointing out the other thing. And Ellis did say at the end of the previous chapter that he was gonna tell them all the next day. And I agree with you on the last part with Nick lol. Glad you like the story :D**

**xprincesszelda: Glad you love it :D**

**left 4 dead xxxloverxxx: Glad you think so! And I agree, he is badass lol! Yeah, I only made the Tank talk in that chapter cause I was introducing the Infected language thing, but I will go easy on it in the future. I also think that Ellis and Zoey are a cute couple, I'm also a supporter. Personally, I like both FrancisXRochelle and NickXRochelle, reason why I did the whole voting thing. Nick got the most votes, so he became the boyfriend. Yeah, I guess he does sometimes lol :D**

**lopi and poy (though I have the feeling you're the same person lol): The votes closed a couple of chapters ago, I'm afraid, and Nick got the most votes. Don't get me wrong, I like both FrancisXRochelle and NickXRochelle. And I might make Francis and Rochelle a couple in one of my other stories.**

**Sherryl: Thanks :D**

**Ok, now on with the chapter!  
><strong>

_**It's Hard To Survive  
><strong>__**Chapter 15**_

'_I hope tha' the reason doesn' decide to show up again,' he thought. 'I really don' wanna have to leave them again…'_

Having been so exhausted from the night before, the group slept right through the next day, and woke up when darkness fell. As soon as everyone was up, they met in the main room to discuss what to do next.

Bill didn't look happy that the group had just wasted a whole day that they could've used to get out of this carnival. Coach, however, was grinning from ear to ear.

"What are you so happy about?" Bill asked with a bit of annoyance.

"I know how we can signal tha' chopper," Coach replied.

Now everyone's attention was on the former football coach. They did remember him saying that he had an idea, but they thought that he just said that to give motivation to the group, for he said nothing more on the subject.

"How, Coach?" Rochelle asked.

"Firs' we look for supplies," Coach continued. "Then we start the Midnight Rider finale. It's all kinds of fireworks, smoke pots and lights and shit. Tha' chopper pilot can't miss it!"

"Coach, that is the stupidest idea I've ever agreed with," Nick responded, smirking.

Coach shot him a glare before turning to Ellis.

"Ellis, ya ready to rock?" he asked.

Ellis looked at him as if asking why the hell Coach would ask such a question.

"I was born ready, so yes!" the younger Southerner replied.

Coach smiled at him.

"Then let's do it! When y'all are ready, grab a weapon, and we'll go!" he said.

As the discussion broke up, Zoey turned to Ellis, hands on her hips.

"Ellis, you do remember the promise you made me last night, right?" she asked.

Ellis fidgeted nervously.

"Uh…um," he stammered.

"Ellis, they deserve to know," Zoey told him.

Ellis tried making an excuse, but failed, for deep down, he knew that Zoey was right. He nodded to his girlfriend and turned to everyone else, who were all doing their own thing.

"Y'all?" Ellis asked uncertainly.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to face him.

"What, kid?" Francis asked.

Ellis struggled to find the right words.

"Well, I guess y'all wanna know wha' happened…"

"You mean what caused you to attack me?" Nick asked.

"Y-yea, and I'm sorry 'bout tha', Nick. But anyway, it seems as though my instincts are tryin' to control me. I get these moments when I lose my mind, and rely on nothin' but instincts. But tha' time, for some reason, I jus' couldn' control them in time. All I hear in my head at those times is 'kill, destroy, hurt' and at the time I attacked Nick, those words were too much for me, and I jus'…snapped. Attacked the nearest thin' near me."

Everyone stared at him as he told them what he really suffered and felt as a Halfie.

"When Coach shot his gun, it shook me outta my state, but only a little," Ellis continued. "My instincts now kept sayin' 'danger, run, hide', but I fought agains' it, and instead cowered in the corner. I ran, 'cause I knew I was a danger to y'all. I then ran into tha' Hunter, and after I took care of most of his pack, I realized tha' my instincts are sorta linked to my emotions, mostly rage and stress. I say tha', 'cause my full power and strength is released when I get angry, or stressed. After a bit of testin', I thought tha' if I take out my anger on the zombies more, my instincts might stop tryin' to take over."

"Then why didn't you come back sooner?" Louis asked.

"I was scared," Ellis answered. "Scared tha' I was wrong, tha' I might attack one of y'all again."

As Ellis finished, everyone was shocked. Ellis suffered a lot more than they all thought. Being a Halfie must be a hard strain on his sanity and mind.

"Look, y'all, can we please change the subject?" the Halfie asked.

Everyone nodded their heads, also not wanting to talk about this anymore. As everyone went back to what they were doing, Nick walked up to Ellis.

"Overalls?" he asked.

Ellis avoided his eyes and kept quiet.

"Kid, I'm not pissed at you, okay?" Nick tried to reassure him.

Ellis looked at Nick in shock.

"How can ya not be pissed at me, Nick?" he asked. "I attacked ya!"

"You couldn't control it, Ellis," Nick responded. "It wasn't your fault."

"It was, I'm weak, I couldn't stop it…"

Nick cut him off by grabbing his shoulders and giving him a shake.

"Ellis, you're not weak, you hear me?" the conman told Ellis angrily. "A bit too talkative, maybe, and you can be annoying, but weak? Kid, you attacked and killed a Tank by yourself, just to save my ass!"

"But-"

"No buts, Overalls!" Nick exclaimed. "You're not weak, and that's that! End of conversation!"

Ellis nodded. Nick nodded back and turned back to what he was doing.

"C'mon, y'all!" Coach exclaimed. "Let's get the hell outta here!"

* * *

><p>After going through the long building, the group ended up at the stage. Ellis, Coach, Louis and Zoey split up from the other four to get the fireworks and fuel tanks spread out across the stadium, while Francis, Bill, Nick and Rochelle walked around the stadium, gathering supplies. On stage, Francis finally dropped his pistols and grabbed a guitar.<p>

"Now this is a weapon!" he exclaimed.

Bill rolled his eyes, but said nothing. Ellis climbed onto the stage and walked up to the mike. As soon as he did, the stage lights came on. Ellis looked up to see that Louis had switched them on. Smirking, he grabbed the mike and began to sing.

"Every lady's crazy when her daddy's not around!"

Coach burst out laughing, but walked up next to Ellis and joined in.

"Gotta reach for the top, gotta stay on the mountain, DA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA!"

Nick, Louis and Francis couldn't help but burst out laughing. Rochelle and Zoey just shook their heads smiling. Bill just shook his head, but there was a small glint in his eyes.

"C'mon, kiddies, let's rock and roll!" Francis exclaimed, walking over to the control board and pressing the button. Fireworks started to shoot into the air as Midnight Ride began to play.

"I love this song!" Ellis yelled.

"I'm gonna regret this, but turn it up!" Nick yelled.

"Right side!" Louis yelled, shooting one of the fireworks boxes.

The group fought the Infected, which were strangely scarce. Suddenly the lights went off, and a guitar solo began to play.

"Tank!" Francis yelled, pointing to the seats.

Ellis pulled out a Molotov and ran towards the Tank, throwing it. After successfully getting the Tank on fire, he pulled out his AK-47, and started shooting with the others. After some great effort, the Tank keeled over and died. Silence fell over the stadium.

Until the lights clicked back on and more fireworks were launched. One Bad Man then began to play.

"I love ya, Midnight Riders!" Coach couldn't help but yell.

This time, the horde seemed endless. It was very difficult to move around, and even with pipe bombs and bile bombs, the horde just wouldn't let up.

"I'm down!" Nick suddenly yelled.

Rochelle tried to run to his aid, but she was suddenly jumped on by a Jockey and led away from the team. Francis killed the Jockey while Coach helped Nick up. Nick immediately pulled out his First Aid Kit and healed himself up. Soon after, a Smoker grabbed Bill and a Hunter pinned Zoey. Ellis shot the Smoker, but before he could shoot the Hunter, his AK-47 went click.

"Shit!" he yelled, realizing that the rest of the team was now too busy with the second Tank. Also, if he just took out his katana, he wouldn't make it to Zoey in time; she was on the other side of the stadium. Snarling, he quickly turned and lunged at the offending Hunter on Zoey, knocking it off. The Hunter let out a surprised yelp, and Ellis took advantage of it. He pounced on top of the Hunter, quickly killing it, before turning his attention to Zoey.

"Ya okay, Zoey?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, El," she answered, taking out her First Aid Kit and patching herself up. "Go help the others with the Tank, I'll be fine."

Ellis reluctantly turned around and ran towards the others.

"Why isn't tha' thin' on fire?" he asked in a panic.

"We don't have any more Molotov's!" Bill replied. "And we used up all the fuel tanks and fireworks boxes on the hordes earlier!"

"Ellis, you're already in your Howler body, care to give us a hand?" Rochelle asked.

Ellis nodded, and with all his strength, lunged at the Tank. He latched onto its back, his claws embedding deeply into the large Infected's skin. The Tank roared, but could do nothing except flail its giant arms around like an idiot.

Until one of Ellis' legs was in reach.

The Tank managed to reach back and grab Ellis' leg and throw him off its back. Ellis flew through the air and landed somewhere out of sight of his teammates. Soon, the pain became too much for the Tank, and it died with a dying roar.

"Ellis!" Zoey yelled, trying to run to where she thought she saw the young Southerner land.

But then the sound of helicopter blades reached the group's ears.

"The chopper saw us!" Coach yelled.

"Coach's crazy idea worked!" Rochelle yelled, almost in disbelief.

The helicopter soon made an appearance and flew over the stadium to land on the one side. The group was now worried, for the helicopter had landed on the exact opposite side that Ellis was thrown to. Zoey was still trying to get past the horde that was blocking her way. Suddenly, someone grabbed her arm. She turned to see it was Bill.

"Zoey, go for the chopper, I'll get the boy!" he yelled over the noise.

"But-"

"Go!"

Zoey reluctantly ran towards the helicopter, along with Francis, Louis and Rochelle. Nick and Coach ran up beside Bill to help. They managed to break through the horde.

"There he is!" Nick yelled, pointing to Ellis, who was struggling to find a way through the horde.

"Go get him, Nick! We'll cover ya!" Coach yelled.

Nick nodded and ran over to Ellis.

"Kid!" he yelled.

Ellis looked up in shock.

"Wha' are ya doin', Nick?" he yelled. "Get to the chopper!"

Nick ignored him and grabbed his arm.

"No-one gets left behind, Overalls!" the conman yelled, pulling Ellis towards Coach and Bill. Once they were through, Coach and Bill had managed to clear a path. Nick let go of Ellis' arm and took out his M-16. Ellis immediately dropped back on all fours and ran behind the other three. Coach jumped on the helicopter first, soon followed by Bill and Nick.

"Where's Ellis?" Zoey asked.

Coach, Nick and Bill looked behind them, and saw that Ellis was held back by another wave of zombies.

"I thought he was right behind us!" Nick yelled, trying to jump off the chopper again.

But the helicopter started to rise…

"Wait, we can't leave Ellis!" Rochelle yelled.

But the pilots ignored her. Fortunately, Ellis managed to make it through the horde to the helicopter.

"C'mon, Ellis, jump for it!" Coach yelled to him.

Ellis crouched down low, before letting out a loud screech and jumping high into the air. He managed to grab the edge of the helicopter, claws slipping on the metal surface floor. Nick and Coach ran forward to help him up. But before they could, a gunshot sounded, and a bullet landed just feet from the group. Coach and Nick jumped back, startled. But before they could recover, another shot went off, this time right in front of Ellis. A third one went right into the Howler's shoulder.

Blood started dripping from the wound as Ellis screeched in pain. He let go of the edge with one hand and gripped his wounded shoulder. But his other hand couldn't hold onto the metal surface by itself. His friends watched as if in slow motion as Ellis fully let go of the helicopter and fell to the ground far below.

"ELLIS!" the whole group yelled in unison as they all ran to the edge. But there was no sign of the young Southerner.

Nick, Coach and Bill turned around to see who did this. They saw one of the pilots standing there, a magnum gripped in his hand.

"You did this!" Nick yelled accusingly and angrily.

The yell caused everyone to turn around. They all looked at the offending gun-holder with a deep hatred. Their looks seemed to scare the living daylights out of the pilot.

"Why would you do that?" Coach practically growled.

"What?" the pilot asked. "I shot an Infected!"

"That wasn't an Infected!" Bill yelled.

"It was one of those Leapers!" the pilot argued. The pilot obviously didn't know the difference between a Howler and a Hunter.

"He wasn't!" Rochelle snapped back. "He was our friend!"

"Shut it!" the other pilot shouted. "We saw the way that _**thing**_ acted down there! It was an Infected, and our policy is to shoot any Infected that threatens us! Now, you guys were lucky we decided to save your asses, so you'd better shut it, 'cause we won't hesitate to shoot!"

This effectively shut the group up. They all slowly sat down, all feeling the same thing. Zoey brought her knees up to her chest and started sobbing. Bill put his arm around her shoulders to try and comfort her. Nick tried to comfort a quietly sobbing Rochelle. Louis and Francis just sat there, still shocked by the earlier events. Coach wiped a hand across his face, a lone tear sliding down his cheek. He was quite close to Ellis. They had known each other since Ellis was in high school. He muttered a small prayer for the boy, hoping that he was still alive. Afterwards, he looked over at Zoey.

'This is the second time the boy's been ripped away from her,' he thought. 'Let's jus' hope it's not for good this time…'

**Ok, there's the fifteenth chapter! Hope y'all liked it!**

**Gonna see if I can update again before I go away for Christmas, but we'll see :)**

**R&R please!**

**Until next time  
><strong>**D-ZombieDragon**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey guys. I know it's been forever since I've updated any of my stories, especially this one! To be honest, I just haven't had the time. School's been a bitch, and my personal life's been hard too. But, on the bright side, it's improving quite nicely, and here's the next chapter! Thanks to all who read, reviewed, favourited, and stuck with this story! I also appreciate all the encouraging reviews I got!**

**Review time!**

**Bearybeary: Don't worry, Ellis was only shot in the shoulder, he should be okay, despite his current situatiom :-)**

**Gabe97: I'm glad you like it, and thanks for being patient! Here's your wish...chapter 16! :D And yes, poor Ellis...he's always getting the short end of the stick, whether it's in the intro video, or in-game.**

**dante0085: I'm glad you like the story, and thanks for the nice comment. I sent you a PM, but in case you didn't get it, I'm always open to ideas. If I like them, I'll put them in. :D**

**Okami-kohai: Funny how that happens, ey? And thanks for that, was worried that I was going a bit too OOC. Thanks! :D**

**Fatty Waffey: Funny how that happens, ey? It happens to me as well, a lot! So many times I've come to that hill just before the safe house, andI get killed, either by a Hunter (and the bots are too slow or are downed) or by a Tank with that damn car! That first level can really piss me off sometimes lol.**

**JM: I see you've changed your story, but thanks for the gift! I'll try and find a place for him, just send me details, like how he attacks, his abilities, etc. Thanks again! :D**

**InfiniteSilent8: Thank you! :D**

**Now on with the chapter!**

_**It's Hard To Survive  
><strong>**Chapter 16**_

_'This is the second time the boy's been ripped away from her,' he thought. 'Let's jus' hope it's not for good this time…'  
><em>

Ellis groaned as he started to come 'round. At first, everything was a blur. All he felt was pain. But then, his vision started to clear.

He looked up and around, despite his body's protests. First thing he noticed was that he was in the middle of a forest. In the distance, he could see the lights of the carnival. He moved his body cautiously. However, as he tried to stand, he howled in pain and fell back down again. He looked down at his legs and gingerly moved his right one. A painful gasp escaped his lips. That was when he noticed the large amount of blood on and around his leg. He began to feel very nauseous. With his head swimming, he quickly turned his head to the side and gagged. Luckily, he didn't get sick. He groaned quietly.

"Wha' am I gonna do?' he thought to himself. 'I'm injured badly; I don' know where the hell I am, and I may never see my friends again!'

His nausea was now becoming almost unbearable. He felt his head hit the ground once more, the world spinning and starting to become black. But something kept him from letting that happen.

_"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"_ a growling voice sniggered.

Ellis immediately looked up, despite his nausea. He growled angrily at the speaker. The Alpha Hunter shook his head mockingly.

_"Genio (1), Howler, genio,"_ he said sarcastically in Infected tongue (2). Ellis continued to growl. The Hunter laughed.

_"What's the matter, niño?"_ he asked mockingly. _"Lesionado (3)? Feeling a bit enfermo (4)?"_

Of course, Ellis didn't understand Spanish, except for maybe a few words, but he knew that the Hunter was mocking him.

The Howler growled louder.

_"Get away from me!"_ Ellis hissed, trying to look as intimidating as possible.

The Alpha Hunter looked at Ellis' leg, and back at his face.

_"Or what?"_ he asked._ "You'll growl us to death? You're in no condition to do anything!"_

Ellis' eyes widened.

_"Us?"_ he stammered.

The Hunter let out a snort and gestured to the bushes behind him. As if on cue, four smaller Hunters came out and stood behind their leader. One walked right up beside the Alpha.

_"You honestly think I would've come alone?"_ the Alpha snorted again.

Ellis couldn't help but smirk.

_"Oh, yeah, I forget,"_ he growled. _"Yer too much of a coward to face me by yerself, even when I'm too injured to move!"_

The Hunter tensed up. Ellis noticed and smirked again, knowing that he had hit a nerve.

_"I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you, boy,"_ the Hunter growled menacingly. _"No-one around to save you this time and there's no way you can escape!"_

The Alpha started to move in, the other Hunters close behind. Ellis growled softly. The growls got louder as the Hunters got closer. Ellis tried getting up again, attempting one last time to get away, but he fell down once more with a whimper. The Hunters sniggered as they continued getting closer. Feeling hopeless, Ellis bowed his head and waited for the attack.

Suddenly, a loud screech pierced the silent atmosphere. But this was no Hunter shriek. Ellis looked up towards the sound. The Hunters did too.

A large shape darted in front of the injured Southerner and growled deeply at the Hunters. Its voice sounded muffled, so Ellis guessed it was holding something in its mouth.

His guess was soon confirmed.

The shape in front of him threw a smaller shape at the small group of Hunters. Ellis realized that the smaller shape was another Hunter. One that looked scared out of his wits.

_"Sending your pathetic Hunter after me again, Richard?"_ the larger shape growled.

The Alpha, who Ellis now knew as Richard, growled at the slightly larger Infected. He then turned his attention to the smaller, scared Hunter.

_"You can't do anything right, can you, Owen?"_ he growled.

Owen backed away from his leader, his eyes wide with fear. Suddenly, Richard jumped forward and snapped his jaws at the smaller Hunter, causing him to shriek and run. Owen disappeared into the trees.

_"Patético (5),"_ Richard muttered before turning back to the larger Infected that separated him from the injured Howler. _"Now, get out of the way!"_ he growled.

The larger Infected turned his head for a brief minute, giving Ellis a chance to get a better look. First thing he noticed was that the Infected wore a similar black hoodie to the one he wore. Ellis couldn't see his face for it was covered with the hoodie's hood. He also noticed the bill of a cap sticking out from under the hood. Ellis couldn't help but frown at the slight similarities between him and this Infected.

The Infected turned back to the Alpha Hunter, growling deeply. Richard couldn't help but flinch at the Infected's growl.

_"Not so threatening now, are ya?"_ the Infected sniggered. _"Aren't you supposed to be El Diablo?"_

Now Ellis was confused. Who or what the hell is El Diablo?

_"I suggest you and your pathetic excuse of a group go back to your pack,"_ the Infected growled._ "Or you know what I'll do."_

Richard didn't look like he was going to listen, but then the Hunter next to him gave him a nudge.

_"C'mon, Papi,"_ the Hunter whispered.

Richard looked at the slightly smaller Hunter, before looking back at the Infected in front of him. He growled, but reluctantly backed away. The larger Infected smirked.

_"That's more like it,"_ he growled.

Richard snarled menacingly before turning towards the trees. But before he ran off, he turned his head towards Ellis.

_"You may have won this time, Halfie, but your luck won't last forever!"_ he hissed before giving a screech and bounding off into the dark, his pack right behind him.

Ellis gave a small sigh of relief as the Alpha disappeared. He looked towards his savior, who was now walking slowly towards him. Despite the fact that this stranger had just saved his life, Ellis still couldn't help his suspicions, and tried once again to get away. The Infected stopped before putting a gentle clawed hand on Ellis' side.

"Easy there, laddie," he reassured in clear English. "Don't put any more strain on that leg."

Ellis noted the Scottish accent as the Infected spoke. It sort of calmed him. He lay still as the Infected looked him over.

"How did ya get into this situation, mate?" he asked.

"I was in one of them whirly-birds before I was pushed out," Ellis answered sadly.

The Infected nodded.

"They didn't accept ya?" he asked, though already knowing the answer.

Ellis nodded his head, tears springing up in his eyes.

"I was with my friends," he continued. "They tried to save me, but…" he trailed off.

The Infected nodded again. He gently prodded Ellis' injured shoulder, causing the mechanic to hiss. The Infected drew his hand back quickly.

"Hmm, can you walk, son?" he asked.

Ellis shook his head.

"If I could, I would've run from them Hunters," he added.

The Infected looked him over again before leaning down and gently maneuvering the Southerner onto his back.

"What are ya doin'? Ellis asked.

"I have to get ya somewhere safe, lad, to take care of those injuries," the Infected answered.

As the Infected began bounding away from the scene, Ellis was in a bit of a daze. A million questions popped into his head. After a bit of thinking, he decided on one to ask.

"Excuse me, sir," he whispered, causing the Infected to stop.

"Yes, lad?" he questioned.

Ellis hesitated a bit before answering.

"What exactly are ya?" he asked. "And why did ya save me?"

The Infected seemed to freeze at these questions. He slowly turned his head, looking at the Southerner as best he could in his position. He sighed.

"I'm one of your kind, kid," he answered. "I'm a Howler, just like you…"

* * *

><p><strong>Translations:<strong>

**(1) Genio - Temper**

**(2) - Infected have their own tongue, but a select few can still speak in their native tongue.**

**(3) Lesionado - Injured**

**(4) Enfermo - Sick/Ill**

**(5) Patético - Pathetic**

**Some translations were made in previous chapters.**

* * *

><p><strong>And there we go! Please let me know if it's ok!<strong>

**Hope you enjoyed! Please R&R!**

**Until next time  
>D-ZombieDragon<strong>


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